THE chairman of the House committee on appropriations on Sunday called on the Development Budget Coordination Committee to amend the proposed 2019 national budget to pave the way for a resumption of suspended deliberations on the national spending plan.
In an interview on radio dzBB, Nograles said House leaders decided to suspend he hearings so that the DBCC could withdraw the cash-based budgeting it has proposed and return to an obligation-based budgeting system.
“All they have to do is amend it,” he said of the DBCC, an office of the Department of Budget and Management.
He said he hoped they could resolve the impasse in a week.
The DBCC is led by Budget SecretaryBenjamin Diokno with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Economic Planning Secretary General Ernesto Pernia and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Nestor Espenilla Jr. as members.
Camarins Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte urged government agencies to get their act together in implementing infrastructure projects in support of the President’s Build, Build, Build program.
Senate finance committee chairperson Loren Legarda, meanwhile, said the Senate would continue to discuss the 2019 budget after the House indefinitely suspended budget hearings.
“The Senate Finance Committee will continue with the budget hearings as scheduled,” Legarda said in a statement.
The House suspended the deliberations to oppose the planned cash-based nature of 2019’s general appropriations, which means that the extent of budget implementation is one year, with an extended payment period of three months after the fiscal year.
Under cash-based budgeting, agencies have only a year after the fiscal year to settle payments for the goods and services delivered.
In obligations-based budgeting, the funds for the fiscal year are valid for two years.
“When the House resumes their hearings on the budget, we will be ready to receive the GAB (General Appropriations Bill). I am confident that the House will resolve these concerns in due time,” Legarda said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the House move to suspend hearings should not delay the 2019 budget or lead to a reenacted budget.
“We can only hope that after this pause, they can fast-forward their review so that the budget will arrive in the Senate as scheduled and will not jeopardize the traditional timetable of an enacted budget by the end of the year,” Recto said in a statement.
“As we are four-and-a-half months away from the end of the year, any speculation of a re-enacted budget is premature,” Recto said.
The Senate, he added, must continue with its parallel hearings on the 2019 budget because only through the rigorous examination of agency budgets will they discover the flaws and faults and apply the remedial measures.