Duterte meets with Senate, House

leaders to break budget impasse

Chief Executive himself called for the
meeting.
TIIAII TETITI
President Duterte was e)ee:ctetl to ,"Pinatawag na ako ng Presidente i
TIIB NATIONIS T.EAIDING NDWSPAPEN
meet with Cohgress leaders luesday mamayang gabi (I was summoned by
night to r€sdlve the impasse between the President for a meeting later to-
I
Wednesday, March 13,2019
the Senate and the House of Represen- night)," Sotto said irr a radio interview
tatives over realignments made in the Ttresday morning.
proposed.F3.?s7-trillion 2019 budget. . Sotto was to be accompanied to the
Senate President Vicente Sotto III meetins in Malacahanp bv
announced this T\resday, qaying the Senatefresident Pro reripo"-
-t )10

Duterte meets with... <1 budget,'i he said in a

re Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan
Miguel Zubiri, finance committee chair
Sen. Loren Legaqda, and Senators Pan-.
nlo Lacson and Gregorio Hbnasan.
The House contingent will be led by
Spealer Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and
rppropriations committee chairman
Rep.lRolando Andaya Jr.
The Senate chief also confirmed
Monday night that the Upper Chamber
has received the ffnal copy of the 2019
Seneral Appropriations BiU signed by
{rmyo.
The Senate's Legislative Budget Re-
parch and Monitoring Offrce GBRMO)
ras also started reviewing the Hpuse-
;ent documents to compare it with
;he version ratified by- Congress last
tubruary B.
Sotto said he expects the LBRMO rc-
iiew to wrap up before his meeting with
the President so that he could report the
Senate's findings.
He reiterated that he would not sign
the GAB if they find that the House
indeed made the F?g-billion reatign-
ments in the budget measure after
its ratification, which he stressed was
urconstitutional.
He also welcomed President Du-
terte's statementthathe would not sign
an "illegal" budgel
"I'm glad to hear that. I'll save him
the trouble by not signing iL" Sotto told
reporters.
Lacson, for his part, said tlle meeting
would bea good opportunity'to resolve
the Senate aird House's squabble rd-
garding the 2019 govdrnment spending
progmm.
"We won't be there to quarrel but
to resolve the issues surrounding the
sage. /
,"pd""t" t"J ."r-
But a's far:rs senators are concerned,
Lacsol said they will stand by the con.
stitutidnal prohibition on revision of
ratified bills.
"SP (Sotto), Sen. Legarda and I will
stick to lhe issue at hand," he said, add-
ing that tle President Duterte agrees
with them.
Reenacted budget ' ninyd 'yan e wala tayong pera pang-
On Monday, President Duterte
warned that if the government continues
to operate on a re-enacted budget, the
country's growth rate witl take a blow
."All Filipinos will suffer fi:om declin-
ing gross domestic prbduat (cDP) rate
if delays in the approval of the pmposed
PHP3.757-hillion national budget will be
prolonged," he said.
He pointed out that even law en-
forcbment authorities will suffer under
a reenacted budget.
"Magkaroi tayo ng slide sa cDP
' the budget billi he hopes the government
. budget, everyone will sufrer including
the law enforcement," Duterte said
during the a\a'arding ceremony. for the
Outstanding Worieh in Law Enforce-
mentand National Security ofthe Philip-
pines at the Heroes Ha[ ih Malacanan
Palace.
"It will decrease our GDP Alam
gastos t o move one (You lsrow we won t
have money to move on). It's everyday
income that we expect so'yun ang
pinagdedebatihan (it's being debated
ont, he added.
Congress has yet to transmit the
General Aptriropriations Bill (cAB) for
2019 to the President due to a budget
impasse between the two houses of
Congress.
Presidential Spokesperson Saft,ador
Panelo said that although he is confident
that Congress would eventually agree on
would no longer have to operatg on a
reenacl,ed budget until August.
'l'm sure they will be agreeing
eventually Inirig ano iyong dapat nilang
gawin (what they need to do) . Alt of them
narnan are concerned about the welfare
of the country" P. anelo said.
Panelo also reiterated that the
President will exercise his power to
veto the GAB if he feels that indeed the
20rg budget to be given to him does not
conlorm to the Constitution.
Earlier. Socioecongmic Planningl
Secretary and National Economic andl
Development Authority (NEDN Direc-l
torGeneralErnesto Pernia warned that I
the Philippines GDP may fall below 6l
percent this year if {tre approval of thej
2019 budget continues to be delayed. I
Economic managers have set a]l
growth target belween 7 and 8 per-l
cent from 2019 to 2r, ,*nn , *0".]

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