ANGARA SEES 2009 GAA RATIFIED NEXT WEEK

Senator Edgardo J. Angara sees the 2009 General Appropriations Act ratified by both houses as session resumes next week.

"The bicameral conference committee has been actively meeting almost everyday to reconcile differences in the Senate and the House of Representatives' version of the proposed P1.415 trillion budget.

Although it was earlier agreed that a P30-billion to P50-billion will be allocated as 'extra-spending' for infrastructre, education, health and the environment, Angara said the bicameral committee has yet to agree on the amount they would put on the proposed stimulus package.

"When there is a consensus that we need to spend more, and incurring additional deficit now would not be harmful, we need to take this steps to avert sharp contraction of the economy," said Angara, who chairs Senate Committee on Finance.

According to Angara, the 2009 budget should be attuned to the demands of the global environment in order to buck the Global Financial Crisis and prepare for the eventual global economic rebound.

"We are now going to operate under a new surrounding.. And our 2009 budget must fit into this entirely different environment. We need to adapt to this new environment to cope up and survive. And we can do this by focusing our expenditure on job generation and by preparing for the morning-after scenario through human capital investments," he said.

Meanwhile, Angara assured that there will be no re-enacted budget as the same will be made retroactive to the first day of 2009.