Press Release
July 28, 2009

PALACE TOLD TO ADVANCE SUBMISSION OF 2010
BUDGET TO CONGRESS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged Malacañang and the Department of Budget and Management to speed up the submission of the 2010 general appropriations bill to Congress to enable it to approve the measure on or before Nov. 30 this year, the deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy for those running for national and local elective positions.

Unless the national budget is passed by Nov. 30, he said the government faces the prospect of having no approved budget for 2010. He said this is because the congressmen and senators who will run for reelection or for other posts will be barred from performing their legislative duties upon filing their certificate of candidacy.

He said this problem did not surface in past elections because the deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy fell in February or March of the succeeding year. By that time, Congress had already passed the national budget.

But for the 2010 elections, he said the Commission on Elections had to advance the period and deadline for the filing of the certificates of candidacy due to the shift to the automated system.

Pimentel criticized the practice of the Arroyo government to transmit the budget bill to Congress 30 days after the opening of the regular session on the 4th Monday of July.

"Although there is nothing unconstitutional about this practice, the late submission of the general appropriations bill deprives Congress of at least a month of precious time to scrutinize and deliberate on the money measure," he said.

The minority leader lamented that the Arroyo government has ignored the suggestion from well-meaning quarters to submit the budget on the opening day of the regular session when the President delivers her state of the nation address.

"If the Aquino, Ramos and Estrada administrations made it a practice to submit the national budget on the opening day of the regular session, there is no reason why the Arroyo administration could not do the same," Pimentel said.

Apparently, he said Malacañang and the DBM failed to anticipate the problem that would arise from the Comelec's order to advance the period and deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacy.

He said the latest word from the Palace is that the budget bill has not yet been finalized and nobody knows how much will be the spending program for next year.

Pimentel has been proposing the submission of the general appropriations bill to Congress in the first quarter of the year to give lawmakers sufficient time for its deliberations and to ensure its approval before the year-end adjournment.

He noted that the House of Representatives usually approves the new budget bill on second reading by the middle of October and on third reading by mid-November. Only then can it be forwarded to the Senate.

This is the reason why the fiscal year would usually end without an approved national budget. Congress is able to pass the new budget only by February or March of the succeeding year.

This unduly delay the release of funds and the implementation of infrastructure and other projects.

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