Press Release
January 17, 2006
VILLAR: GOVERNMENT WORKERS ARE IN THE LOSING END AS THEIR SALARY IS ALSO DELAYED
Delay in the Passage of 2006 Budget may be Deliberate
Senator Manny Villar, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance,
thinks that the dilly-dallying in the deliberation of the proposed
2006 budget at the Lower House is being done deliberately in order
to delay the passage of the budget or have it reenacted.
According to Villar, Every year the passage of the national budget
is delayed and I think this year it is being done deliberately. We
all know that the Executive Department would have more leeway or
discretion in allocating funds or projects with a reenacted budget.
Also the budget discussion is being tied with the move to amend the
Constitution.
From all indications, it is clear that the Lower House is in no
hurry to pass the proposed 2006 budget. It seems that the budget
will be used as leverage in pushing for the change into a
parliamentary form of government. These two issues should be tackled
separately. The budget should not be mixed with politics, adds
Villar.
Villar maintains that the budget is the single most important bill
that should be passed by Congress each year without fail. What
image are we painting to the whole world if we fail to even pass a
national budget every year? We may lose the respect of investors,
creditors, the international community and even our own citizens,
says Villar.
Furthermore, Villar cites that government employees and workers are
the ones who bear the brunt of the delay in the passage of this
years budget since in the proposed budget there is a P13-billion
allocation for their salary increases.
Had we passed the budget on time last year, the salary increase of
government employees would have taken effect already. As long as the
budget is not passed yet, they still will not receive the increase
in their salaries. So I would to tell the government employees that
the delay is not caused by the Senate, we have even organized
ourselves into a Committee of the Whole to fast-track the budget
discussion, says Villar.
According to Villar, if the proposed 2006 national budget would not
be passed before the end of the first quarter, it would be better to
just reenact it for the whole year. If the budget would passed by
May or June already, there is even more chances for the funds to be
used in questionable ways. So it is better to reenact it for the
year and just pass a supplementary budget, just so we can release
the salary increases of government employees. |