‘Palace unfair on Senate passage of budget’

Senate President Franklin Drilon slammed Malacañang for blaming senators for delays in the approval of the 2006 national budget, pointing out the measure had not been transmitted for approval by the House of Representatives.

Drilon emphasized the Senate has every intention to pass the 2006 budget in May just before the 13 th Congress adjourns its Second Regular Session.

He took note of the statements by Malacañang officials calling on the Senate to approve the budget after the House passed the measure on second reading last Friday.

Drilon said he was informed by House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles that the budget would be transmitted to the Senate on April 6, or the last working day of the Senate before it goes on a Holy Week break.

The House has set today as its deadline for individual amendments to the budget after which they would need to print copies of the appropriations bill prior to its passage on third and final reading.

"So until that time we could not act on the budget. Certainly we cannot pass the budget until we receive it (from the House)," Drilon pointed out.

While the Senate has been conducting hearings on the 2006 budget over the past few months, Drilon said what they were working on was merely the President’s version of the national budget.

How fast the Senate is able to finish its deliberations on the actual budget would depend on how the measure looks after the amendments of House members are included, he said.

"We were working on the President’s budget. The length of time that we will work on the budget will depend upon how the budget will look after it is passed by the House," Drilon said.

"We intend to pass the budget within May. We are committed to pass that. But until we receive that, it is grossly unfair to say we should pass the budget when have not yet received it," he added.

When Congress resumes session on May 15, the Senate would effectively have just two weeks to work on the budget before they adjourn.

And by the time Congress resumes session in July, the President would already be presenting the 2007 budget in her State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Several senators have taken a position that a reenacted budget for the rest of the year would be more ideal if the 2006 budget is not passed by June.

They argued that the President would have the best of both worlds in terms of available funds with a reenacted budget for the first half of the year and a new budget for the second half.

Under a reenacted budget, the President would have a significant amount of funds to use at her own discretion because the allocation for several of the infrastructure projects already completed under the 2005 budget would still be present.

With the new budget for the second half of the year, the President would then have bigger spending power with the increase in the budget from 907.9 billion in 2005 to 1.040 trillion in 2006 or P132.1 billion.

"It doesn’t make sense when we are still debating on the 2006 budget in July when the budget for 2007 will already be submitted," Drilon said.

It is becoming apparent that the Senate is being set up for blame in delays in passing the budget, even though the House sat on the budget for eight months, Drilon rued.

"It is quite obvious that at this point, they (Malacañang) are already making representations or misrepresentations that the budget is already with us because it has been passed by the House. The budget is not with the Senate yet," Drilon said.