(Eagle News) — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday, Dec. 13, urged Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea not to endorse Budget Secretary Ben Diokno’s possible recommendation for a special session to allow for the passage of the national budget for 2019 before the year ends.
Lacson made the appeal during the plenary deliberation on the P6.773-billion proposed budget for the Office of the President and its attached agencies.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are slated to go on a break for the holidays after today, Thursday, Dec. 14.
According to Lacson, based on their schedule, after tackling the OP’s budget, the Senate still has to tackle the proposed budgets of “big” agencies such as the Department of Tourism, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Justice, the Commission on Audit, the Commission on Elections, the Ombudsman, the Department of Health, the Department of National Defense and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“And even if the President calls for a special session, even if we extend our session for another five days, for another week, it is impossible, Mr. President, for us to enact the budget bill before the year ends,” Lacson said.
Medialdea has said he would relay the concern to the President.
Earlier, Diokno said there was a possibility President Duterte would call for the special session next week.
“We will recommend to the President a request for a special session. It could be sooner, it could be on Friday,” Diokno had said.
