On Friday, both Houses of Congress ratified the Bicameral Committee’s reconciled version of the 2010 national budget. Does this mean that we will have a budget come January 1, 2010? After the lengthy process of hearings in both houses, the hard negotiations in the Bicameral Committee, and the frantic chasing of signatures for the ratification, two more steps remain before the General Appropriations Act for 2010 will be considered law.
First, the President needs to review Congress’s version of the budget. She can approve it without questions, declare a partial veto of specific proposals or a total veto of the entire budget. Lately, she introduced the practice of the “conditional veto” which is not in the Constitution. For two years now, she has approved realignments introduced by the legislature on the condition that actual release of such will be subject to her approval. Thus, an expenditure item might be in the Appropriation Law but cannot be released without the go-signal of the President even if it is approved by Congress and signed by the President
The second and la st step in the appropriation process is the President’s Veto Message, after which she finally signs the Appropriation Bill into law. In the past, these last two steps can take as long as two months. In the meantime, the 2008 budget will be reenacted.
No. It is unlikely that by January 2010 we will have a budget.
Is the ratified P1.5-trillion 2010 budget an economic stimulus budget? Not really. It is only slightly more than the 2008 P1.4-trillion budget. However, the increases are largely in the debt service for interest expense and the Special Purpose Funds. True, the debt service has been reduced by the Senate, but as surely as night follows day, the President will promptly veto this provision since debt service is automatically appropriated.
It is obvious that the ratified 2010 budget does not provide for repairs, restoration and rehabilitation of damage wreaked by storm Ondoy and the other natural calamities. The budget proposal was made months before Ondoy struck. The latest estimates from the Philippine Postdisaster Needs Assessment led by the World Bank run to $4.5 billion. This is easily more than P200 billion!
How about the Alternative Budget Initiative proposals for the MDGs? Partners of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) convened by Social Watch have successfully introduced additional allocations for education, health, agriculture and the environment. In Congress, no less than Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora, Rep. TG Guingona, party-list representatives and the Liberal Party congressmen supported the ABI proposals. In the Senate, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Alan Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Jinggoy Estrada were among those who supported the ABI proposals. The full details are not yet out but significant increases have been noted in education and health. It is expected that agriculture will garner important increases along with environment and climate change.
What the public must watch out for. Media and civil society have faithfully covered the long journey of the 2010 budget from the budget call to the ratification by Congress. It does not mean that when the ratified budget will be signed into law, the task of budget-watching will be over. Only the budget preparation phase will be completed. The actual implementation of the budget will require non-stop watching, especially since 2010 is an election year.
First, civil society and the media must see to it that allocations for health, education, agriculture and environment will be released. Because of the conditional veto which the President will likely invoke, she just might disapprove the actual release of such funds.
Second, the public must be warned against transfer of funds and pooling of so-called savings. In 2008 alone, the President transferred more than P140 billion from various agencies and moved these to other units of government. This practice subverts the intention of Congress and ignores the provisions of the Appropriation Law.
Third, the public must watch out for the “Special Purpose Funds” (SPFs) which were not thoroughly reviewed by Congress. We must not forget that more than one-half of the President’s proposed budget are in the SPFs. No wonder these funds are referred to as her beef barrel!
It is not surprising that Senators Lacson, Roxas and Aquino voted against the bill. Budget practices which give the President full power over the budget have not changed.
Press briefing today, December 22. This morning, the Alternative Budget Initiative convened by Social Watch Philippines will hold a press briefing on the ratified 2010 budget. Focus will be on what the public should watch out for. Details to follow.
