EDITORIAL - Held hostage by politics

The annual deliberations on the national budget have to be among the reasons why politicians have fallen so low in public esteem. This year it has been no different. Yesterday, with the two legislative chambers still deadlocked on the appropriation for 2004, congressmen announced that the 2003 budget had been officially re-enacted. Included in the 2004 budget proposal is an additional multimillion-peso outlay for the holding of the elections in May.

Senators are accusing congressmen of stonewalling so the 2003 appropriation can be re-enacted, thus allowing President Arroyo to juggle funds for use in her campaign. Congressmen, on the other hand, say no budget bill could be passed because senators failed to show up at the meetings. The congressmen also said they could not allow the passage of the Senate’s version of the 2004 budget because the senators junked the proposed revenue measures that could have supported the higher outlay. Without such mea-sures, the congressmen insist, the fiscal deficit – already so massive it has led to ratings downgrade of the country – could balloon further this year.

In this political season, it’s easy for the public to believe allegations that the administration might have a hidden agenda in the re-enactment of the 2003 budget. Especially when even the Vice President – admittedly no big fan of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – joins the chorus of accusers who warn that the President could juggle funds from the re-enacted appropriation for use in her campaign. And especially when members of the House of Representatives, usually eager to pass the budget on time, are perceived to be stonewalling this time.

The administration is vulnerable to such accusations and must prove its detractors wrong, if only to make sure that President Arroyo – in the event that she wins in May – can govern for the next six years with a modicum of stability. There are enough accusations about political mumbo-jumbo floating around. The last thing President Arroyo needs is to be accused of dipping her hands into the national budget, now held hostage by politics.