Press Release
August 11, 2009

PALACE DELIBERATELY DELAYING SUBMISSION OF 2010 BUDGET

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today accused Malacañang of deliberately delaying the submission of the 2010 national budget to Congress so that the government will be forced to fall back on a reenacted 2009 budget that will give it wide latitude to divert funds for the campaign of administration candidates in next year's elections

Pimentel said a reenacted budget will be favorable to the administration since it will be virtually converted into a pork barrel that they can play around with.

The minority leader branded as unsatisfactory President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's statement that she will transmit the 2010 general appropriations bill to Congress on August 27 --- or 30 days after the opening of the regular session of Congress --- instead of heeding the appeal of lawmakers to fast track the submission of the measure to ensure its approval before the yearend break.

The administration's economic managers say they have yet to finalize the new budget at a meeting of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee. They could not even give a ballpark figure on the total amount of the budget.

"It's not far-fetched that there will be a reenacted budget 2010 will be an election year. A reenacted budget will be advantageous to the administration. With the budget transformed into a virtual presidential pork barrel, the President will have the discretion to transfer funds where she wants. Most likely funds will be siphoned off to election campaign of administration candidates," Pimentel said.

He warned of a repetition of what happened in 2004 when billions of pesos in taxpayers money were diverted to projects with partisan political purposes during the months preceding the presidential elections, as exemplified by the P728 million worth of fertilizer fund.

In a reenacted budget, the funds earmarked for projects already implemented in the previous year are automatically considered savings. The disbursement of savings is left to the discretion of the President.

Pimentel criticized the President for her insensitivity to the appeal of members of Congress for early submission of the budget due to the extreme time constraints under which they will deliberate on the money measure aggravated by the advanced schedule for the filing of certificates of candidacy by the candidates in the 2010 polls and start of the election campaign.

If the President will submit the budget only on August 27, he said this means that Congress will only have three months to discuss the budget before the November 30 deadline for the filing of candidacies and the start of the election campaign.

The moment the election campaign begins, both the Senate and House of Representatives may encounter problems in mustering a quorum because reelectionist lawmakers may give more importance to their campaign than to their attendance in legislative hearings and session.

Aside from this, Pimentel noted that Congress will have a three-week recess after the House approves the budget bill by mid-October.

Pimentel said Congress would somehow be able to overcome the time constraints if the executive branch exerted efforts to submit the 2010 budget at the July 27 opening of Congress when she delivered her state of the nation address.

He said that to partly remedy the problem, Malacañang should submit the budget bill to the Senate and House at the same time. He said this will enable the two chambers to conduct simultaneous budget hearings. He said the Senate need not wait for the House's approval of the budget before the Senate starts deliberating on the measure.

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