SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday warned of a reenacted budget should the Senate insist on changes on the House-approved version of P3.767 trillion national budget for 2018.
Alvarez issued the warning after expressing his irritation over the way senators were throwing tantrums over matters that had already been discussed throughly in the House.
“I’m getting really annoyed,” Alvarez said in Filipino. “We have discussed everything well [in the House] but when it reaches them [the Senate], so many are throwing tantrums.”
Alvarez said the House would stand pat on its version of the 2018 national budget and defend it in the bicameral conference committee, even at the risk of having a reenacted budget for next year.
Under a reenacted budget, the government will operate next year on this year’s budget of P3.35 trillion. The President has the authority to declare the capital outlays in the current budget as savings and use the funds as he pleases, including releasing funds for the pet projects of “cooperative” legislators.
The deliberation of the bicameral conference committee on Thursday hit a snag over the conflicting provisions in the House and Senate versions of the budget.
In a bid to settle the issue, the bicameral conference panel decided to create two small groups to discuss the contentious provisions.
Among the contentious issues was the Senate’s removal of the proposed P50 billion budget under the Department of Public Works and Highways for right-of-way acquisitions.
The House also opposed the Senate’s realignment of the P900 million budget for Oplan Double Barrel for the Philippine National Police, which it allocated instead for housing projects for the police and the military.
Alvarez said that if the two sides cannot agree on the contentious issues before Congress takes its Christmas break, it is possible that the government may operate next year on a reenacted 2017 budget.
The last day of session of Congress for 2017 is on Dec. 13.
He noted that the House has conducted a thorough deliberation of the budget and are not just about to relent to the demands of some senators.
Alvarez said a reenacted budget would actually be advantageous to the executive department because it can then use the funds for the purposes it may deem necessary.
However, Alvarez said it is still possible that the House and the Senate bicameral panel may reach a consensus within the next few days.
Another piece of legislation that is on the line is the tax reform bill, where the two versions greatly differ.
Senate ways and means committee chairman Juan Edgardo Angara said they would begin discussions of non-contentious issues to “build up small victories” before tackling the conflicting provisions on the tax rates for cars, sugar-sweetened drinks and fuel.
The Senate version also proposes taxes on mining, coal, cosmetic procedures, and the exemption of prescription drugs and medicines from value added tax.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon admitted that the bill was headed for rough sailing in the bicameral conference committee.
