Malacanang prepares for re-enacted nat’l budget?
IS Malacanang ready if Congress fails to enact on time the proposed P1.4 trillion 2009 national budget it has passed? You bet.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has personally told Palace reporters “it would be `desirable’ if Congress could approve the proposed 2009 national budget by December”.
She however added that her administration has “lived for many years without the budget being signed in December.”
It may be recalled that Congress has failed to enact the proposed outlay, forcing the government to operate under a reenacted budget for the first quarter in the last two years.
The 2009 proposed budget is about 15 percent higher than the P1.227-trillion budget for this year.
She said the proposed budget would address not only the world food and fuel crises but also the funding requirements of the government’s priority programs — environment, education and economy.
Roads, bridges and other public works, along with the farm sector, schools, social welfare and the government’s health insurance program, would be the major recipients of the 2009 general appropriations.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said the Palace has adopted a new policy for the new budget called “performance budgeting.”
He explained that the idea of a performance-based budgeting policy was “those who perform well—such as departments that were able to implement projects based on the 2008 funding—will naturally get more resources and those who have the absorptive capacity to spend, chances are will get more resources as well.”
Agriculture, public works and highways, and education will be among the “major recipients” of additional budget next year in keeping with the commitments that the President set out in her 8th state of the nation address (SONA).
The social welfare department and PhilHealth, the state medical insurance program, will also be getting a large share of the budget. (rachiu/PIA)
