House opens budget debates

The House of Representatives opens plenary debates today on President Estrada’s proposed P725-billion national budget for next year.

The chamber’s appropriations committee has recommended the President’s proposal almost intact despite doubts raised about the revenue targets.

Rep. Gilberto Duavit (LAMP, Rizal), committee chairman, told reporters yesterday that his panel is for keeping the spending level proposed by Malacañang.

"We are for giving the President and the executive branch enough leeway to raise funds and to spend those funds pursuant to appropriations in the budget. If there is no money, they will have nothing to spend," he said.

He said the government has to lead in stimulating economic activity in this time of crisis.

The opposition vowed to try to seek outright reductions. If it cannot win majority support for cuts, its next tack would be to transfer billions in proposed expenditures to the unprogrammed or unfunded portion of the budget.

Such expenditures would then be subject to the availability of funds, the same scenario envisioned by Duavit.

"We cannot approve an expenditure program that is not realistic, one that the government cannot obviously support. We must calibrate our ability to spend on our ability to generate funds," said Assistant Minority Leader Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental).

Moreno said based on the performance of the collection agencies, it is clear that the 2001 budget is unrealistic.

He said tax collections are short by 25 percent, while privatization proceeds are barely 10 percent of target.

He said the government has to be more efficient in collecting taxes and privatizing certain assets to support the budget.

He added that the assets that need to be sold to raise additional revenues include the state’s shares in the Philippine National Bank and Meralco, television stations RPN-9 and IBC-13, and the Journal group of publications.

"The administration is more interested in privatizing jueteng than selling assets," he stressed.

Asked how much he would recommend to be moved to the unprogrammed portion, Moreno said he would still make a computation.

But Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City) had told reporters that the opposition would try to cut the budget by at least P20 billion either through outright reductions or transfer to the unfunded part of the outlay. – Jess Diaz