,, THURSDAY I DECEMBER 5,2019
to approve
^ ^C_o:rgress
2A20 budget onlVonduy
By JESS DtAZ
and PAOLO ROMERO
The House of Representa-
tives and the Senite have
agreed to approve a common
draft of the proposed p4.1_
trillion 2020 national budset
ne\t week despite passi"ng
widely disparate versions oJ
the outlay.
"The bicameral conJerence
mmmittee will finish iis job on
Monday and both chambers
will ratify its report (contain-
ing the common version) on
the same day," Rep. foey Sa1-
ceda of Albay told reporters
vesterday.
He said the approved ver-
sion would be on the desk
of President Duterte for his
scrutiny before Dec. 21.
Turn to Page 6
Congress
Salceda sits in the House
contingent in the conference,
which Davao City Rep. Isidro
Ungab of Davao City heads,
while his Senate counterpart
Sonny Angara is co-chair
Reached for comment, Ung-
ab said, "Yes, Monday is the
target."
. The joint chairmen and the
rest of the conference panel
iasked to reconcile the diver-
gent House and Senate ver-
bions of the proposed budget
[eld their first rneeting last
Friday. The panel authorized
. ,Ungab and Angara to continue
the reconciliation talks.
Ungab and Angara met
-on
aqain Tuesday while TY-
phoon Tisoy was pummeling
Southem Luzon. SPeaker Alan
Peter Cayetano attended their
meeting.
Sources said the agreement
to approve a common version
of the proposed budget lor
next vear on Mondav was ar-
rived at during this meeting.
"We cannof afford another
delay ifl the enactment of the oosine the return of the P3-
national budgef" Salceda sai.d. irillio;cut. but the Senate is in-
The President signed the sistinq on diverting the moneY
2019 national budget in April to the-state-owned Land Bank'
. after vetoing or deleting P95 The STAR leamed that un-
billion worth of rcalignments der a soecial Provision the Sen-
made by the House. ate inciuded in the diversion,
Deputy Speaker Mikee Land Bank would lend the P3
Romero of 1-Pacman said the billion to local Sovernment
tedious process of releasing units (LGUs) for buYing PalaY
funds, obligating them and {rom farmers in their areas'
conducting bidding added sev- House members exPressed
eral more months to the delav. fears that local Politics would
. "That in. turn took its toil come into PlaY if LGUs were
on the econorny, which lost at eiven palav fr.rnds, since cer-
least P500 billion a month and irin loid ofhodt choose
whose growth slowed down in "ould
io procure onlY from their rice
the first and second quarters, farmer-supPorters.
before recovering in the third
quartet," he said.
' Salceda said the Ungab-An-
i\-ReodI- pkq€tl
gara panels have committed to
work overtime to reconcile the
disparate House and Senate
versions of the 2020 budget.
r,o.r"s", "They have agreed to use
the National Expenditure Pro-
gram (NEP), 'ivhich is the
President's original budget
proposal, as a starting Point,
instead o{ the House or Sen-
atd versions. From there, they
will consider the amendments
proposed by each chamber,"
he said.
_ .l,sL9{if there would be
no legal question in using the
NEP as basis for discussion
since it was not the version ap-
oroved bv the either chambet,
bdceau #d, "well, the bicam
(conference committee) is con-
sidered the third chamber (of
Congress)."
Jn its version of the budget,
the House made P9.5 billion
in realignments. On the other
hand, the Senate realigned a
total of P206 billion, including
P3 billion from the National
Food Authority's PalaY Pro-
cuiement fund, reducing it to
'.P7 billion.
Some congressmen ar€ Pro-