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(Eagle News) – Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have assured that the proposed 2020 national budget will be passed on time.
The newly-designated Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance Senator Sonny Angara said his panel’s scrutiny of the proposed 2020 national budget will be “thorough, transparent, truthful.
“And we will pass it on time,” he said.
The senator said that he expects Malacanang will be sending over the proposed 2020 budget to both houses of Congress in the next few weeks.
In a statement, Angara said that it “will be on the desk of the President for signing before the end of the year.”
This came about as House Majority leader Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, chair of the House Committee on Appropriations met for consultations on the passage of the 2020 national budget.
This was reportedly upon the directive of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
The House of Representatives aims to finish deliberations on the budget before the end of October this year.
Ungab, who heads the House Committee on Appropriations, said that it would be easy for them to check if there were insertions in the proposed budget.
He said that he would not allow a repeat of what happened in the 2019 budget which experienced delays due to budget intramurals on realignments and insertions.
The P3.7 trillion national budget for 2019 was signed by the President only last April due to delays in its approval by Congress.
Angara also said this should not happen again.
“We owe it to the people to pass the budget on time. Any delay in the implementation of public programs and the delivery of services is a disservice to them,” he said.
The senator said that would want to focus on education, health, infrastructure and rural development, and would work closely with the executive branch with regard to the administration’s priorities.
“Marami na tayo nasimulan na magaganda na programa tulad ng Free Tuition Law at ang Universal Health Care Law. Marami na ang nakikinabang sa mga batas na ito kaya nararapat lang na isulong natin ang iba pang mga programa upang matulungan ang pamilyang Pilipino, lalo na ang mahihirap,” Angara said in a statement.
“We must build on these gains and make sure that the taxpayers are getting the service they deserve. We will go over the 2020 budget thoroughly and so that nothing goes to waste,” he added.
He said the budget hearings would be transparent “because the people have the right to know where their taxes go.”
