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I'lol{DAY, DECEI'IBER 2, 2019

House, Senate
start reconciling
budget versions
LEADERS of the Senate finance and
House 0f Representatives appropria-
tions committees start meeting ioday
to harmonlze theirversions of the
proposed P4.1-trillion national budget
for 2020 in a bid to ensure enactment
before the year ends - and Prevent a
repeat of the delayed approval that has
taken a toll on 2019's overalleconomic
growth.
Lawmakers hope to submitthe har-
monized budget to President Rodrigo
R. Duterte before they take their Dec.

21, 2019-Jan. 19, 2020 break, for signing

into law before this year€nds.

Budgel S1/2

Budget,
fron S1/ I

A copy ofa Senate committee report, which Albay-
2ndDistrict Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda showed
reporters, showed that the chambe.s' versions differed
larqely in appropriations for the Department of Trans-
portation (DoTr), Department of Health (DoH) andJhe
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Under House Bill No.4228,0rthe proposed General
Appropriations Act (GAA) for FiscalYear 2020, the DoTr
qot P'146.04 billion,-about P26 billion more than the .
P120.32 billion earmarked by the Senate.
The House also gave the DPWH P529.75 billion,
while the Senate gave it P536.58 billion.
SenatorPanfilo M. Lacson had pointed outa P45-
billion DPWH lump-sum appr0priation, while Senate
President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto moved to reduce
Dolr's budqet due to the agency's underspending.
The Senate and House proposals also differed in
DoH lunding, appropriating P100.49 billion and P88.92
billion, respectively.
SenatorJuan Edgardo M. Angara, finance com-
mittee chairman, explained during the period of
amendments last weekthatthe increase in the DoH
budget was intended t0fund vaccinati0n of children
and improvement ofthe Resealch lnstitute forTropical
f4ediclne, arhong others.
The fi$t meetins ofthe bicameral conference com-
mittee last Fridaysaw the exchange of each chamber's
proposed amendments. Mr. Angara and his counter-
part, Davao City-3'd District Rep.lsidroT. Ungab, will
first discuss amendments between themselves. "What
happens is, usually, pag may amendments na they
don't agree with, we'll have t0 discuss it with the sena-
tor orthe congressman who made the amendment,"
14r. Angara told reporters last Friday.
lhe proposed 2020 spending plan hurdled the
House on sept.20 and then bagged finalapprovalin
the senate on Nov. 2Z
The P3.662-trillion 2019 GAA was signed into
law on April15, which left the government operating
under a reenacted budget for nearly four months.
Thlsstemmed from an impasse on the budgetsystem
between the House and the Department of Budget and
Management, and later with the Senate on irregular
allocations after the budget had akeady been ratified.
The reenacted budget and the ban on new public
work 45 daysahead of the flay 13 elections meant
planned new infrashucture were left unfunded for
much of last semester. That, in turn, made economic
growth slow to 5.8% as ofSeptemberfrom 6.2% in
2018's first three quarters. -
Charmalne A. Tadalan

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