Press Release
December 7, 2009

BUDGET APPROVAL TO BE DELAYED FURTHER DUE
TO MAGUINDANAO CRISIS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. expressed concern today that the approval of the proposed Pl.5 trillion national budget for fiscal year 2010 would be delayed further because Congress will have to shift its attention to the review of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's martial law declaration in Maguindanao.

Pimentel said the Senate floor deliberations on the general appropriations bill started only Dec. 2, instead of mid-November, as originally scheduled.

According to the minority leader, several days of sessions were lost due to additional recess, not scheduled in the original legislative calendar, and holidays.

In fact, he said the budget measure was taken on the floor only once after the sponsorship speech was delivered by Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the finance committee.

Since Congress is unlikely to approve the final version of the national budget before the Christmas break, the minority leader warned that the government will have to fall back again on a reenacted budget.

"The national interest will be a casualty of martial law. And that is what I fear. But we have to give priority to the deliberation on the martial law imposition primarily because human rights are involved here," he said.

The Senate and the House of Representatives will hold a joint session Tuesday to discuss the President's report on Proclamation l959 placing Maguindanao under martial law. This will be preceded by a caucus of both chambers today.

Pimentel said that the budget bill will have to take a back seat as Congress will have to determine whether there is factual and legal basis for martial law, which will lead to either affirmation or revocation of Proclamation l959.

Since barely two weeks are left before the Christmas break, Pimentel said the senators will have less time to scrutinize the budget and the tendency will be to pass every appropriation item without the benefit of thorough debates and analysis.

He said lawmakers need ample time to look into the budget measure, specially huge lump sum appropriations under the Office of the President and under various line departments and propose necessary safeguards to prevent misuse.

Pimentel said even if the Senate will approve the national budget before the Christmas break, there will be no more time left for the bicameral conference committee to convene and reconcile the conflicting versions of the Senate and House versions of the measure.

Consequently, the 2009 budget will be automatically reenacted into law effective Jan. l, 2010. And in the absence of a new budget, this means that no new programs and projects can be implemented. This also means that the President will have full discretion in disbursing funds specially those reallocated for programs and project already implemented this year.

Congressional leaders had earlier committed themselves to pass the 2010 budget before the yearend recess. They realized that they should avoid delay in the passage of the budget bill because of the difficulty of mustering a quorum in both chambers of Congress during the election period after the senators and congressmen have filed their certificates of candidacy for the May, 2010 elections.

"To expedite the passage of the general appropriations bill, we in the Senate conducted parallel budget hearings immediately after Malacañang submitted the budget bill to the House on August 26. But whatever progress we made in the budget deliberations has been negated by the unwarranted delays, partly caused by circumstances not of our own making and beyond our control," Pimentel said.

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