IrlANltA" PHIIPPINES TTHURSDAY 14 MARCH 2019

By Joshua Lao Government estimates Socioecono.mic Planning

showed that a replay of the Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.
Economic managers strongly budget until August as Senate "We call for the immediate
appealed yesterday for an end President Vicenie Sotto III passage of the 2019 budget. The

to the deadlock in thisYear's
budget, which has been stalled
bv intramurals between the
Hluse of Representatives and
the Senate as the economY is
expected to reel from iis effects.
warned would degrade grorth
to around only 4 9 Percent to
5.1 percent.
"Worse, with a full-Year
reenacted budget, grolv'th can
go as low as 4,2 to 4 9 Perceni,"
longerwe wait, the mote adveme
the effect will be," he added.
ihe Cabinet-level Development
Budget Coordination Committe e
IDBCC) scaled baik the countrY's
. lum to Page 2

FonnEgeI 6.3 percent.

domestic output for this year, revising its
growth taxget as a resuli.
*Ihe gross domestic produc't or GDP
growth i,arget range has been a{usted to six
to seven percent in 2019, 6.51,o 75 percert in
2020 and seven to eight percent from 2021 to
2022," the DBCC said in a siatement,
The DBCC p0stedthat rwenue mll€dions
ar€ p ojected to reach P3.15 irillion in 2019,
Iower ihan the previous P3.z0trilion taxgei.
Finance Secretaxy Ca,rlos Dominbuez
III said the reduction in projected revenue
collectiors canie tom the appolul of tlte
general tax amnesw which signifrcantly
diminished collec'tion taxgets.
According to estimates of the National
Economic and Development Authoriw
(NTEDA), a reenacted budget mtil next
month will bring
down full-year
GDP growth to / ,,
6.I percent
from an ea,rlier TPDIT PAW
estimate of
F)
Pemia emphasized a rcena.ted buqget
wil create a delay in botft new and ongoing
infra#uctue, as vell as the implementation
of public social seNices, such as the
uncorditional cash transfer and Pania$'id
Pasada prograrns.
Broad effects
'Ihegovemrnent wonld not be able to
quick$ elecute pograms E d projeds. this
means that we will miss the oppotunity to
create as much as 180,000 to %0,000 more
jobs and fail to lifi as much as 400,000 to
6601000 more Fllipinos out of p0verty this
yeax,' he said.
the econorqy recorded a full-year GDP
grorth rate of 6.2 percent in 2018, lower
than goveflunent's revised target of 6.5
t)€vr PAq+ PLt " '+
 Budget replay KO expansion
percent to 6.9 percent
the gowth figue lasi yea.r was also
loller thar the 6.7 percent a,nd 6.9 percent
recorded in 2017 and 2016, respectively
la.rgely due t0 the spike in inflation rates
in 2018.
We call for the immediete passage
of the 2019 budget. The longer we
wait, the more adverse the effect
will be.
"Even with this, the economy has been
st€adily growing by atr least 6 perceni for
seven consecutive ,€axs. Also, in the flst
I0 quarters of ihe adminidtration, the
econonv has been goving at an avemge
of 6.5 percent. We need t0 sustain this
momentum or errn accelerate it, now with
inllation mte down alrd within our taxget
nnge," Pemia said,
G€t it over with
Malacafrang also called on the Senat€
and House of Representathrs to end the
budget standoft
Presidential spokesman Salvador
Panelo issued the appeal after
President Rodrigo Duterte's
meeting with leaders of both
houses of Congress last
ftesday night failed io end
in an agreement.
'There is a budget
impasse due to some
constitutional questions
raised by both chambers.
Only Congress can resolve
and break this impasse,'
Panelo said.
"\{e ca,ll on tlrc seruton
and repesentatives to break
the stalemate and deliver
to the Filipino people an
. apfroFiations la,v that can
\ aid this government in
I lettering iheir lives and
t in helping our counhy to
I mwe ftrward,' he added.
' Allegations by both
chambers . pf inse$ions
in the ve$ion ratiliecl bv
the Bicameral Conference
Comrnittee caused delays
in its passage.
According to Panelo, tfte
Ofrice of the President has pt to receive national budget.
tlle General Aptropiations Bi[ after it
ratifred last 8 Fbbnury. by House M4iority trloor kader trleden
nThe Executive has performed
Castro thai Maiacaiang bnnded Lacson's
consfi'tutional task to submit the proposed sugge$ion as unconstitutional.
buqget. \lb await congress to compv with
its con$ttutional madate to pass tlrc sarne,'
he said"
President Rodrigo Duterte, howwer,
stood tun during the meeting thai he will
not sign ihe budget measure wiihout the
signdturc of Sotto.
Ihe bidl is now in the hands of the
House to rccall the signed budget measurc it
passed to the Senate and change it with the
one ntified by tlle Bicameral Confercnce
Committee.
Sotto and Sen. Panfilo Lacson also
noted that the submitted budget mearule
was differcnt from the one ratified by the
blcarneml.
Based on the rcview bf the Senate
Legislatirc Budget Reseaxch and l\ilonit0dng
Ofiice, Sotto said ther€ rere indeed cha.nges
made by some House members to the
ratified budget measure.
\,
In the frrst l0 quortsrs of the
administration, the economy has
been growing at an average of 6.6
percent.
Recall House version
'After some words from boih sides,
Senaior Lacson sugested that the I{ouse
r€call the eruolled coly they sent and rer€ft
back to the bicam report that both Houses
appoved," Sotio said.
'Ihe hesident and members of the
Dccutilr deparfinent concurrcd" The llouse
appeared to have acquiesced but we have
yet to see if they will follow the agleemeft,n
he added.
But Lacson claimedihe hesident sensed
the resistance on the paxt of the House
contingent.
.Ihe ftesident, seming resistance from
the House members, told the group to just
resohr the issue among ouselves,' LaJson
said.
"So, ii's a stalemate. We af,e bark wherc
we were before last night's (Tuesday)
meeting,' he added
Lacson maintained that the House
members realigned a total of P96 bilion
from the P3.767-trillion proposed
\\Tpoil'T pAg€/i
$as
Bothsotto andLacson alsobelied claims
its
House wuslrcs Imnds
Castro countered the House was
not at fault in itemizing the lump sum
appopriations in the bicameral cornmittee
report.
During the meeting, flouse
Appropriations Commitree chairman
Rolando Andaya asked tle Senate budge!
director, who was not named by the
lawmaker, if the itemization of budget
after ratification was unconstitutional"
"She said it is not unconstitutional:
Therefore, it simply means that the
claim of unconstitutionality has no
basis but, in the process, we did
not want to discuss the maiter of
unconstitutionality," Castro said.
Moreover, Senior Deputy Mqjority
Leader Rodante Marcoleta insisted
that the P3.7s7'tritlion budget is not a
sinple bill.
"Ilds happens t0 be the biggeS check to
be issued by the R€public ofthe Philippines,
that's why we should be carefirl. Let's
itemize where oul budget will be us€d so
that it rvill not go anj,'where,' Maxcolete
We'need to sustain this momentumr.
or even accelerate it, now with
inflation rste down.
Marcoleta also claimed P76 billion
in realignments made by the Senate. .
"0ut of P?4 billion that they realigned,
P2.5 billion was from the National
Greening Program. The National
Greening Program was not included
except for a particular province. I will
not tell you what (province it is),' he
said.
Marcoleta added ihe Senate also
slashed P1l billion ftom ihe Depaxtment of
PubLic Worl6 and Highways Right of Way
budget, Plbillion Technical Dducation and
Shlls Development Authority scholaxshipS
and P2.6 bilion in Foreign Assistance
Fojects on the P?4billion realignments,
l(rlstllla tlarallt, ario J. l|rllarl,
2019 Hanancd Bordct