Malacañang hopes the proposed P4.506-trillion 2021 national budget bill will be signed before the year ends, after President Rodrigo Duterte certified the measure as urgent.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the remark on Saturday after the Chief Executive called for a special session of Congress.
“We hope that before Congress recesses, they could pass the bill and be signed by President Duterte,” Roque said in an interview over Dobol B News TV.
“We can always hope it will pass on time because any delay will again affect our economy and I’m sure the members of Congress know that,” he added.
Meanwhile, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Saturday gave assurance the special session Duterte called for would be “fruitful” as the members of the House majority continued to work on the 2021 National Budget during the break.
Cayetano said the group had been poring over the budget to make sure it was responsive to the needs of every sector and locality as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are checking each program, every sector, and every place with a fine-toothed comb,” Cayetano said.
He said this was because each sector has different needs that need to be addressed.
In related developments, more lawmakers have backed Duterte’s call for a special session to ensure the timely passage of next year’s proposed budget.
Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Bernadette Herrera of Bagong Henerasyon, and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna said the House needed more time to debate on the budget bill contained in House Bill 7727 before it gets enacted.
The Palace said the proposed 2021 outlay would fund the government’s pandemic response and vital programs in health care, education, transportation, and infrastructure.
The special session is scheduled for October 13 to 16 “to resume then congressional deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget and to avoid any further delays on its prompt passage.”
Section 15, Article 6 of the 1987 Constitution provides that the President “may call a special session at any time.
Roque said the government’s holistic COVID-19 response was provided under the 2021 budget, saying that Bayanihans 1 and 2 were only “band-aid” solutions.
He said that President Duterte’s call for a special session and certification of the budget bill as urgent, would assure the proposed budget would be passed on the third and final reading and submit it to the Senate.
House leaders have given assurances that the issue over the chamber’s leadership would not delay the passage of the budget.
Under a term-sharing deal brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte, Cayetano, who represents Taguig, would be the House Speaker until October 2020 while Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque) would succeed him and assume the post until June 2022.
The Palace official also said that Duterte was “hands off” and neutral on the ongoing House leadership row between Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
The President on Friday issued Proclamation 1027 calling Congress to a Special Session “to avoid any further delays on the prompt passage” of the General Appropriations Bill.
The previous day, the President told members of Congress to resolve the issues that have been threatening to delay the budget. “If you do not solve the problem then I will solve the problem for you,” he said.
In his Facebook Live post, Cayetano said the President, in calling Congress to a Special Session, “has the knowledge and information about the country, about the situation, how to do things.”
“That’s why we always respect his wisdom,” he said.
Cayetano had earlier maintained that the budget would not be delayed and that the House would be able to approve it on Third and Final Reading on November 16 and submit it to the Senate by November 17 — a difference of only one day from the original schedule.
But he said the apprehension expressed by the President has pushed Congress to work even faster.
Cayetano urged the members of the House to set aside politics and work together on the budget.
“My objective, and I have made this known to the President, is to have a good budget and to finish it. That is my only goal,” Cayetano said.
Lagman said: “Although the four-day special session of the Congress from October 13 to 16, 2020 called by President Rodrigo Duterte is welcome as it is needed to resume consideration of the national budget, the short period may not be sufficient to assure the approval on second and third readings of the 2021 General Appropriations Bill.”
“More time is required so that the bill for approval on second reading already includes the committee and individual amendments which should be proposed and approved in plenary session,” said Lagman, who also served as chair of the House appropriations committee.
The Makabayan Bloc in the lower chamber also expressed readiness for the reopening of the session next week.
“We are prepared to buckle down to work again and carefully scrutinize the the 2021 budget to that the needed funds to generate jobs, healthcare, agriculture and social aid are prioritized in this time of severe crisis aggravated by the Corona virus pandemic,” said one of the bloc’s leader, deputy minority leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate.