THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Office of the President (OP) have already finished the review of the P4.1-trillion 2020 General Appropriations Bill in time for President Duterte’s signing on January 6.
Acting Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado confirmed that the scheduled ceremonial signing of the budget in the Palace will push through.
“That’s what I know,” Avisado said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.
According to a separate advisory sent to lawmakers, the presidential signing ceremony of the 2020 budget will take place at 4 p.m. at Rizal Hall, Malacañang.
Asked whether the President vetoed any provisions under the 2020 GAB, Avisado did not confirm nor deny this, but he said the budget review was already done last week.
Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo also said on Thursday that the President has not yet mentioned anything about provisions he vetoed in the money measure.
No impact
Meanwhile, Budget Undersecretary Laura B. Pascua shrugged off the possible impact of the failure to enact a new budget by year-end.
She noted that there would be no new budget only for two days excluding holidays.
“The use and recording of funds for these two days will just be part of the budget release documents,” Pascua said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.
Section 5 (7), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution reads: “If by the end of any fiscal year, Congress failed to pass the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for the ensuing year, the General Appropriations Act [GAA] for the preceding year shall be deemed reenacted, and shall remain in force and in effect until the GAB is passed by Congress.”
In a related development, the DBM has also released a circular on the release of funds for January pending the approval of 2020 GAA.
By signing the Circular 2020-1 dated January 2, Avisado authorized agencies of the national government receiving allotment, or notice of cash allocation directly from DBM to obligate the amount corresponding to their actual requirements under the regular budget for the month of January but not to exceed the specified percentages.
However, some items will not be covered by this obligational authority, and shall be issued a Special Allotment Release Order based on the agency’s Special Budget Request.
These include specific items classified under charges against pension and gratuity fund, centrally managed items, as well as charges against Special Purpose Funds, items that are chargeable against automatic appropriations such as special accounts in the general fund of agencies and internal revenue allotment.
Avisado earlier said the President will not be able to sign the 2020 national budget before end-2019, given the time constraints as it has to undergo the required review of OP and DBM.
He also denied that the pushback in schedule of the signing of the 2020 budget had something to do with the alleged last-minute insertions as claimed earlier by Sen. Panfilo Lacson. However, the Palace has since said the President is ready to veto any budget items he will find unconstitutional.
Lacson earlier skipped the signing of the bicameral report on the money measure because of his concerns on the alleged last-minute insertions.
The senator claimed that there are still “lump sums” and “vaguely described” projects in the bicameral report.
The senator’s office reportedly received a USB flash drive containing a list of 1,253 budget items worth P83.219 billion that was allegedly used as the congressmen’s “source” of their “list” of 742 projects worth P16.345 billion that were inserted in the bicameral report.
Last year, the government was forced to operate on a reenacted budget for months since the passage of the 2019 national budget got delayed due to a number of issues, including alleged last-minute insertions and realignments by lawmakers.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/01/03/duterte-to-sign-2020-budget-jan-6/
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