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By
Maricel Cruz, Reporter
The House of Representatives added P30 billion to
social services, when it passed on second reading the proposed
P1.227-trillion national budget for 2008.
Meanwhile, the Senate is eyeing
to pass its budget bill by December 2. After that, differences
between the House and Senate versions will be reconciled in a
bicameral committee before going to the President for approval.
House representatives worked
until dawn to rush the approval of the budget bill, following a viva
voce vote with 200 members present. The House augmented the
appropriations for social services, including health and education
and infrastructure, in effect reducing allocation for debt
servicing.
Under the original draft of the
Palace budget, “social services” would get the highest share at
30.06 percent or P368.878 billion. The budget bill states the amount
will principally address the demands of education and manpower
development (P181.856 billion); health-care services (P22.896
billion); social security, welfare and employment (P69.181 billion)
and housing and community development (P7.620 billion), among
others.
The chairman of the House
Committee on Appropriations, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, said the Lower
House maintained the total expenditure level proposed by President
Gloria Arroyo, since Congress is prohibited by the Constitution from
increasing the totality of the appropriations recommended by the
President.
“To slash the budget for
reduction’s sake is to stunt growth and perpetuate poverty,”
Lagman said.
Meanwhile, Speaker Jose de
Venecia said the passage of the 1,100-page bill is equivalent to the
passage of 50 conventional bills. “We will not have a reenacted
budget in 2008. We kept our commitment to our people.”
Slashed items
Lagman said debt servicing for
foreign loans was reduced by P17.8 billion, of which P6.8 billion
corresponds to reduction of debt payments as a result of the
continuing appreciation of the peso. Similarly, the P11.0 billion
represents the proposed suspension of interest payments for loans
initially identified as “challenged to be tainted or wasteful
pending their renegotiation and/or condonation.”
The other items slashed or
deleted appropriations include the following:
(1) LRT Line 1 South Extension
Project amounting to P2.2 billion under the budget of the Department
of Transportation and Communication which could not be implemented
within the next three years;
(2) P5-billion worth of
slow-moving projects under the Department of Public Works and
Highways;
(3) Budgetary support to
government corporations was reduced by P2.1-billion corresponding to
the Home Guaranty Corp. (P700 million), National Home Mortgage
Finance Corp. (P400 million) and National Housing Authority (P1
billion), of which the said amounts could not be utilized in 2008
due to the lack of absorptive capacity of the said agencies;
(4) The Miscellaneous Personnel
Benefits Fund of P43.7 billion was reduced by P2.7 billion;
(5) The P1-billion budget for a
Department of Defense program for the barangay was also cut by half
since there are infrastructure projects already earmarked for 200
barangay units identified as conflict areas.
The collated reduction of P30.1
billion was reallocated to increase the budgets for:
(1) Teaching personnel,
textbooks, school furniture, scholarships and school buildings;
(2) Reproductive health, family
planning, operating expenses of hospitals, hospital equipment and
requirements for health-care services/disease prevention and
control;
(3) Meal allowance for prisoners;
(4) Firearms, ammunition, patrol
cars and fire trucks;
(5) Assistance to OFWs and
Filipino nationals abroad in distress; and
(6) Infrastructure projects
De Venecia said he confident that
the General Appropriations Act will be approved on third and final
reading by the second or third week of November, after which the
bill will be transmitted to the Senate for approval, possibly before
the Christmas break.
Senate sets
December 2 deadline
Meanwhile, the Senate expects to
pass the P1.227-trillion national budget in December, Sen. Juan
Ponce Enrile said Friday.
“The prompt submission by the
House will give us ample time for plenary debates and we are
confident that the Senate will approve the 2008 budget by
December,” said Enrile, the chairman of the Senate Committee on
Finance.
If the Senate does so, then this
will mark the first time in eight years that the national budget
will be approved ahead of the fiscal year.
The Senate Committee on Finance
had been conducting budget hearings almost simultaneously with the
House Committee on Appropriations. Enrile said only the budgets of
the Department of Budget and Management, National Economic and
Development Authority, Office of the Press Secretary and the Office
of the Vice-President have not been examined by his committee.
With Efren Danao
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