P4.

lT budget
for 2020 set
for approval
BY WEI{DELL VIGILIA
THE House of RePtesentatives
is expected to aPProve the P4.1-
ffillion proposed national budget
on third and final reading todaY
after President Duterte certified
the measure as urgent to exPedite
its passage.
Albay Rep. Isidro Ungab, chair
of the House committee on aPPro-
nriatrons- said the House will try
io the budget on seconi
^ppro*
and then vote on it for
reading
passage on third and final reading
on the same day.
"Given the said cettification, the
P4.1-trillion budget fot 2020 maY
be passed on the same day without
waiting for separate days to have
it approved on second and *rird
teadings. Thus, it is Possible that
the GAB (General APProPriations
Bill) will be passed this Fdday, since
it was alteady certiFed as urgent,"
Ungab told reportels.
Without the cettification, the
'15 days to
House will need Print
the apptoved version of the GAB
before congressmeo cao Ploceed
to the period of amendments
and vote on it for third reading
Puffitp"..id"n.
i..ued the cetti'
fication to avoid a tePeat of what
happened to this yeatt P3.7 trillion
budget which was delaYed at the
House in the previous Congress
because of allegations of congres-
sional insertions.
"Since (the) GAB is 100 Percent
the (same as the) NEP Q"iational
P4.IT BUDGET
Expenditure Prograri;. the Presi-
il (as urgent). 50,
dent cettified
we can approve budget tomorrorv
on third-riading This is the 6rst
time fot President Dutette in foul
budgets to Provide a Presidential
certifr cation." said Albay Rep. Joey
Salceda, chair of the House com-
mittee and vzvs and means and a
senior vice chair of the Panel.
Salceda said lawmakets can
onlv propose but cannoi amend
rhe'b;dg;t on the floor because
of the inline budgeting sYstedt
that lawmakers stricdy adhere "to
ensure that everY iteil in the Pro
posed apPrcPriations law is legal
and aboveboard."
He said alt Projects idenriEed
bv conqressmen, including PartY
list gto"ps, that were included bY
the executive dePattment rn the
NEP "were deemed necessarY
based on the comPlete woik Plans
and feasibility studies that were
submitted bv district, Provincial or
regional auti-rorities df the various
deoartment."
of the
balceda said the members
like
House including local officials,
mayors aod govetnors. have also
' submited recommendadons on
the develoPment based on
' the needs of theirProiects
tespective ateas
Makry&
Business Insight
Friday, September 20, 2OLg
"Howevet, we vrould like to
make it clear that just like senators,
governors, maYots and batangaY
iffcials, memben of Congtess can
only go as far as recommending
otoiects for their respective ateas'
it is the executive dePartmeotwho
will vet, classiS and aPPtove which
recommendations ate in lirre with
national Pdorities," he said in a
statement.
Speake! Alan Peter CaYetano said
the tu&et remains 'Pork-ftee" de-
spite SJceda's admrssion drat each
congfessman cal PloPose Prolects
worth up to Pl00 million.
"No pork, no Parking iof con-
etessional funds; and no delaY (in
"the
passage of budget)- That's our
. mantra," Cayetano sald
Accotding to Houseleaders. tlte
P100 million fund cannot be con-
sidered as "pork' because it -is not
' Iump sum in nature and is itemized
in the national budget.
Construction Workers Solidar-
ity (CWS) PartY-list ReP. Romeo
Momo earlier told rePQrrers that
Malacaiang had also allocated at
least P800 milLion in inftastucnue
proiecs per congtessional district
except foi one special district which
will set as much as P5 billion'
Ba:yan Muna PartY-ListReP. Cat-
los Iia,eanj Zatate. a leader of the
Makabayan bloc, said their gtouP
"did not avail or Partake of anY
so-called P100 million allocation
oer House member for itemized
'projects to be included in the 2020
national budqst."
Zarare suA that while it is at
qued that the allocation does not
eo asainst to the 2013 SuPreme
iooit de.ision outtawihg IumP
sum allocation and post_enacttnent
identification of ptoiects, dre 2020
coogressional entidement "is still
part of t}te Pervasive Patonage
ivstem that u-nfortunately marks
our budget Ptocess "
"Even itemized allotments can
be considered Pork barrel
.as
long as congressPersons exerclse
discretion on its imPlementalon
tike selecting beneficiaties and
conuactors. We believe this is still
a violation of the SuPteme Couit
decision," he said.
STJPPLEMENTAI BUDGET
Also vesterda% tlle MakabaYan
bloc led'the filing ofJoint Resolu-
tion No 18 seeking a P15 billion
suoolemental budget for the Na-
tiorial Food Auth&ry G'JFA) this
veat to cushion the imPact of the
"faiffrct-
iUce Liberalization and
tion lavr to farmets'
The leftJeaning MakabaYan bloc
lau-,tnaken 61ed the measue togeth-
with 48 other House members
er
HJR No. 18 directs the NFA
ro exclusivelv use the amount to
ureentlv proc,lre at least 750'000
-Jtti.'tott. of palay from local
fatmers at P20 Per kilo farm gate
price and sell *re NFA tlce to con-
iumers at P27 Per kilo.
The measure said the Pl bil-
fot ExPanded Rice
Lion allocated
Ctedit Assistance urder .the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement,
Fund-(RCED as Part of the Rice
I-iberalization and Tariffi carion
law "is certainly not etrough to aid
our rice farmers, notwithstanding
the fact flat it requires minimum
collateral and imPoses minimum
intefest fates,"
It said the DePatrnent of Agri-
cultute's @A) ExPanded Swvival
and Recoven Assistance Program
for Rice Farmers (SURE Aid)
amounting to P t.5 billion wi.ll only
orovide eaih fatm.r P I 5,000 in the
iorm of zero-interest loans' and
will onlv cover 100,000 rice farm-
ers out;f the total estimated 2.4
million tice falmers nationu/ide'
The NFA, the resolution said'
can onlv Putchase 350,000 metric
,.r.. or...,.r, -illion sack of PalaY
from local farmers at P20 Per kilo
farm eate once throuqh its current
P7 -biilion iudget forL,.rffer stock-
ng fot 2019.

See P4.1T BUDGET l Page 85

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