Drilon: No reenacted nat'l budget for 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Senate president-waiting Franklin Drilon on Thursday vowed that the proposed P2.3-trillion budget for next year will be passed by yearend to avoid the re-enactment of the current year's budget.

Drilon also welcomed the statement of some senators, who are expected to be part of the new Senate minority group, that they will scrutinize every detail of the 2014 budget, especially the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program.

“It has been scrutinized for the past three years and there is merit in passing it because it is to the public interest that the budget is in place on January 1 so that infrastructure program for that particular year can be started during the summer,” Drilon said at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado.

Drilon is optimistic that the 2014 budget will be passed on time just like in the past three years during the Aquino administration.

“Secondly, we do not want a re-enacted budget because of the abuses that we saw in the past. It is because of the re-enacted budget, so much discretion is allowed to the administration,” Drilon added.

Drilon also expressed belief that the opposition bloc at the Senate would also be supportive of the need to pass the budget on time.

“I don’t think that the opposition would not want to do that because a re-enacted budget is cart blanch to spend anything that is found in the budget because it is just a re-enacted budget,” the senator added.

Drilon reiterated that the majority group “will join the opposition in scrutinizing the budget, but it is to the interest of public that the budget is passed on time.”