The House of Representatives and the Department of Budget and Management want a smoother process for the preparation and approval of the annual national budget.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Tuesday the House and the DBM wanted to “take a second look” at the traditional way of preparing the proposed budget and presenting it to the two chambers of Congress.
This developed as House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said the planned prior consultation with members of Congress in the preparation of the national budget was consistent with the constitutional mandate that the power of the purse lay with the legislature.
“It will hasten consideration of the President’s budget proposal not only in the House Committee on Appropriations but in Plenary as well,” Romualdez said.
“Remember that the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading the 2020 national budget in record time on September 20, 2019.”
Romualdez said the plan was for the executive and legislative branches to work together in putting together the yearly outlay.
“That is what we want to do and that is what Budget Secretary [Wendel] Avisado wants to do”•even before the President submits the budget to Congress, there is consultation with the proper committees of both the House and the Senate, instead of them preparing it and the House revising it and the Senate doing its own revision,’’ he said.
Cayetano said enacting the appropriations bill would be smoother and faster “if we can do the budget together.”
Representatives Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Cavite and Raneo Abu of Batangas said the closer coordination with the Executive would ensure zero veto on the spending measure once again.
“The Palace and Congress will also have more time to review and go over the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Bill,” Barzaga said.
Discussing the appropriations measure’s details with lawmakers before submitting it to the House, Barzaga, a lawyer, said would guarantee its expeditious passage and ensure no pork, no parking and no insertions of funds.
“The consultation is meant to ensure a 20-20 vision national budget that would continue the road to a more peaceful and progressive Philippines and make the life of Filipinos more comfortable,” Barzaga said.
Abu, a deputy speaker, said the initiative of Cayetano was to forge a closer coordination with the Palace in crafting the 2021 national budget before its submission to the lower chamber.
“This effort for better linkages and coordination will ensure the swift passage of the expenditure program and avoid a presidential veto,” Abu said.
“This would also help guarantee that needed projects and programs, including response and rehabilitation to various calamities, are well considered from the very start.”
Under the Constitution, it is the President who submits the annual budget to Congress. The budget bill, by mandate of the Charter, originates from the House. The Senate has the power to concur or propose amendments.
Aside from speeding up the budget enactment process, the plan of the House and the DBM would obviate the possibility of the President vetoing or rejecting certain appropriations in the Congress-approved spending bill.
In April last year, President Duterte signed the 2019 appropriations law after deleting P95-billion worth of alleged last-minute pork barrel fund insertions made by the previous House leadership.
Wrangling between the two chambers over such insertions delayed the signing of the budget. The delay resulted in an economic slowdown in the first two quarters before the economy recovered in the latter part of last year. However, the recovery was not enough for the government to meet its growth target.
Before the year just past ended, the House and the Senate approved the 2020 outlay to avoid another delay and to sustain such recovery.
The President signed the appropriations bill on Jan. 6 without vetoing any appropriation.