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December 22, 2009

Budget advocates welcome Congress’ passage of P1.541 Trillion 2010 Nat’l budget

Laud Congress but warned ‘Malacanang may impound alternative budget proposals’

BUDGET advocates on Tuesday welcomed Congress’ approval of the P1.541 Trillion national budget which included some of civil society’s alternative budget proposals for health, education, agriculture and the environment.

Former National Treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines which organized the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI), said while Congress’ version was not their idea of a “responsive budget”, the fact that some of their alternative budget proposals were adopted means there is an increasing level of awareness among lawmakers about the role of civil society in the budget process.

ABI, a consortium of 60 nongovernment organizations that actively engage the government in the budget process has been calling for increased budget allocation for social and economic services.

For 2010, the ABI proposed an additional P25.23 billion budget for health, education, agriculture and environment sectors which they deem will be crucial for the Filipinos to survive the impacts of the global financial crisis and climate change.

Some of the “budget gains” identified by ABI are the P1.093-billion increase from the proposed P11.097 billion to 12.190 billion in the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as proposed by the Philippine Senate.

The policy research and advocacy group La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) had earlier proposed to retain the DENR’s budget to its 2009 level as against Malacanang’s proposal to slash the agency’s budget by P2 billion.

On top of retaining some important budget items under the environment and natural resources sector, La Liga also proposed an additional budget of P11.14 billion to finance specific climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that will make the 2010 national budget “climate sensitive.” The group, which acts as the secretariat of the Environment Cluster of ABI also lauded lawmakers who adopted their proposal to fund the rehabilitation of some of the country’s protected areas and national parks.

Jonathan Ronquillo, Envi Campaigner of La Liga said the P1.093 billion increase in the DENR’s budget should be able to provide financing for critical conservation and rehabilitation programs for the environment.

For her part, Merci Ferrer of Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) of ABI’s Health Cluster, meanwhile expressed elation over Congress’ adoption of their proposals, which resulted in an increase of P565.96 million, which include P20 million for environment and occupational health, P100 million for the expanded program for immunization, P50 million for rabies control, P20 million for national epidemiological and disease surveillance, P100 million for the autoclaves, and P35.87 million for health human resource development.

The increase in the budget for education consistent with civil society’s alternative budget proposal amounted to P843.91million, which include proposal for increases of P500 million for alternative learning system and P100 million for human resources training and development.

For the Agriculture Sector, the Bicameral Conference Committee also increased the budget for the Department of Agriculture (DA) by P1.98 billion.

With Congress’ approval of the 2010 national budget, Briones said it is now up to Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to sign the General Appropriations Act (GAA) and make sure that the budget items are released on time.

“For once, Pres. Arroyo should act as President by respecting the system of check and balance. It is time she respects Congress’ power of the purse and make sure that the budgets are released according to their purpose as determined by Congress,” Briones said.

According to Briones, signing the 2010 national budget will be considered by civil society as Pres. Arroyo’s gift this Christmas, with the hope that in the last six months of her term, some of the budgets allocated by Congress, including those that were impounded in 2008, will finally be released.

“She better watch out. This is her last term as President and so is her last chance to show, at least for once, her statesmanship,” Briones said.

Briones warned Arroyo of exercising her veto power to erase the increases in the budget for critical social development programs, saying too much is at stake. She said the government needs to enact a 2010 national budget to fast track the government’s rehabilitation efforts in typhoon-affected areas, particularly in Metro Manila and Luzon.

She also warned Congress not to be complacent as their power of the purse can be eroded by Pres. Arroyo by placing certain budget items under conditional veto. The release of funds for budget items under conditional veto, such as budget increases made by Congress, will be subject to the discretion of the President.

“Under conventional veto, some budget items may end up being impounded by the Office of the President. This will mean that the next President may or may not release the budget and later on transfer the fund to use it for other purposes,” she said


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