Zambales Rep. Cherry Deloso-Montalla on Sunday said President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to sign into law the proposed 2019 P3.757-trillion national budget anytime this week.
Montalla said the House leadership has informed lawmakers that the President would sign this year’s budget in the coming week.
“Our budget? We have long been waiting for it. There was an advice that anytime soon, the President will really sign it,” she added.
On March 26, the Senate and House of Representatives transmitted to Malacañang the budget plan after they both signed the ratified bicameral conference committee.
“We at the lower house, we will [always] support the decision of our leaders,” she said.
The Zambales legislator gave her constituents the assurance that funds for their districts have already been set in place regardless of when the 2019 national budget would be enacted.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro described as fake news Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte’s allegations that the House leadership took away P92.3 billion from the 2019 national budget and distributed them to favored members of the House of Representatives.
“I can say with authority that Representative Villafuerte is peddling fake news. I pity my good friend LRay, but I understand where he is coming from. He is one of the former House leaders who stood to gain billions in projects had we not corrected the inequities in the National Expenditure Program,” Castro said.
Villafuerte, for his part, said “the funds that were originally allocated to my district represented funds for programs under the National Expenditure Program, which is the annual budget plan approved and submitted by President Duterte to the Congress.”
“Such projects supposed to be funded by the General Appropriations Act are backed by feasibility studies and have gone through the rigorous review or vetting process by Malacañang. Representative Castro has implied that my district had unduly obtained funds for my district under the previous House leadership,” he said.