MANILA – The Senate and the House of Representatives have ratified the $30-billion national budget proposed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for 2010, which was marked by a significant increase in funding for “green†projects and a huge reduction in the allocation for the country’s foreign debt servicing.
Senator Edgardo Angara, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, reported that the House and the Senate have ratified the proposed budget after members of the bicameral conference committee had threshed out the conflicting versions of the measure as passed by the two chambers.
An enrolled copy of the bill, Angara said, will now be sent to Malacanang for approval or disapproval by President Arroyo.
On Saturday, however, Malacanang served notice the President would veto the reduction by more than $1 billion of the allocation for foreign debt servicing.
A Palace spokesman pointed out the reduction was illegal, citing a presidential proclamation mandating the allocation of 30 percent of the annual budget to repay the country’s foreign debt.
Earlier, Angara clarified the reduction went mostly to infrastructure, education and programmes of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, particularly to clean up the Pasig River in Metro Manila and the historic Manila Bay as ordered by the Supreme Court.
Angara also noted this is one of the few instances that Congress has passed on time the proposed annual budget since then vice president Arroyo took over Malacanang following the ouster of president Joseph Estrada by the Edsa 11 People Power revolution in January 2001.
Administration and opposition lawmakers have agreed this was much better than having a reenacted budget which could be advantageous to the Arroyo administration since 2010 is an election year.
Opposition Senator Alan Peter Cayetano explained that under a reenacted budget, the government would revert to the use of the budget approved in the previous year to maintain government operations, like paying the salaries of civil servants and providing basic services to the people.
But more than that, Cayetano pointed out the President could use the reenacted budget to promote the candidacies of pro-administration politicians running in next year’s elections.
According to Angara, the 2010 budget was approved with significant allocations in areas of infrastructure, environment and climate change mitigation, science and technology, health, education as well as pension and gratuity.
“The 2010 national budget is designed to pursue green and sustainable growth,†said Angara, one of the most senior members of the Senate. “This entails capitalizing our rich renewable energy resources and enriching our human resources, thereby creating green jobs and income opportunities.â€
He added the budget put resources into the implementation of the Clean Air Act and the Solid Waste Management Act, the upgrading of of state colleges and universities, construction of school buildings in underserved areas, and the funding of industrial and renewable energy research and development through the Department of Science and Technology.
At the same time, Congress increased the allocation for the expansion of the coverage of the national health insurance system particularly to help poor families throughout the country as well as augment the pension of the police and the military, Angara disclosed.
For his part, House Speaker Prospero Nograles revealed the budget contained increases for the additional allowances of government prosecutors in 2010.
Nograles said the increase aims to inspire the prosecutors to work with unqualified dedication since they put their lives on the line in the exercise of their profession.
He did not elaborate but he was apparently referring to the government lawyers who worked under intense pressure and threats to their lives to file criminal charges against members of the powerful Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao and their supporters who were blamed by the police for the massacre of 57 people on November 23.
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