PRRD to veto bill extending 2019 budget validity if unlawful

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Malacañan Palace on November 19, 2019. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte will veto the bill extending the validity of this year’s national budget until the end of 2020 if he thinks it violates the Constitution, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after the Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill which prolongs the availability of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) under the 2019 national budget from Dec. 31, 2019 to Dec. 30, 2020.

The House approved House Bill No. 5437 on Nov. 18 while the Senate adopted the lower chamber’s version of the bill on Nov. 26 without amendments.

However, the bill goes against Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) No. 91 which ordered the shift to cash budgeting system to speed up the utilization of the government’s 2019 fiscal plan.

Under a cash-based budget system, appropriations must be used only until the end of the fiscal year.

Prior to this EO, the government has been operating on an obligations-based system which allowed funds to be spent beyond the fiscal year.

“Basta (If) it is in violation of the Constitution, he (the President) will veto it. Hindi naman nababago ‘yun eh (That does not change),” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“If the EO was made by the President, that means the assumption there is there is regularity and therefore in accordance with the Constitution,” he added.

Panelo said all measures, including the bill which extends the validity of the 2019 budget, should comply with the EO 91.

Asked if the President is not inclined to support the bill, Panelo said: “If in violation of the Constitution, we will not support it.”

Senator Sonny Angara earlier said the approval of the bill is necessary as all appropriations that were not released, obligated or paid by the end of Dec. 31, 2019 will lapse and revert to the National Treasury, as provided under the implementation of the cash budgeting system.

He said the measure will enable government agencies to extend assistance in relief efforts for victims of calamities.

“In other words, without the approval of this measure, precious funds might not be spent and our people will experience even more delays in the projects and social services promised to them,” he said.

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said extending the validity of the funds would enable government agencies to implement their projects and provide their services to the people.

“Through this measure, we would be extending a big helping hand to the Executive branch which has had to operate in the first few months of this year on a reenacted budget, and the rest (of the year) under pressure to spend up to PHP3.687 trillion of total available appropriations in a span of approximately seven to eight months amidst an election ban on government projects this year,” he added.

The 2019 GAA was signed only last April 15 due to budget impasse in the versions of the House and Senate.

The Duterte government was forced to operate on a reenacted 2018 national budget for the first four months of the year.