TIIE NATTOITIS ITAITING NEWSPADIN

. Monday, SePtember 30, 2019

Angara sure 2ifr20 budget won't suffer from delays
get so that by January. we alreadY
[ave a budget," Angara said in an
Senate finance committee chief . interview over GMANews.TV
Senator Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara said they have increased
Angara on SundaY said he is confi- the number of sub-committees to
deit there would be no delaYs in the expedite the review of all agencies
passage of the proposed P4.1-trillion and department budgets.
nationat budget for 2020. despite "We have nine (subcommittees)
the arguments of a few Senate and headed by nine vice chairPersons
House members on the budget biu.
- I'm the 10th so we are running
- -
. "Passing iton time is ournumber on 10 pistons," he assured.
one goal this year.It s important that "When it comes to frne-tuningthe
budget. the Senate is a V-10 engine.
belore December 30-31, we have
When I assumed the chairmanshiP,
alreadypassed the 2020 national bud-
I said that if we want to turbocharge
. our performance, then let us cre-
ate more sub-committees. We have
Monday to Friday hearings," Angara
noted.
Angdra added that if the senators
are multi-tasking they are nol. only
fast, buf everyone becomes more
careful and more orderly in scrutiniz-
ing the budget.
"But we don't sacrifice tough
scrutiny for speed When we come
back from our recess on the first
week of November, Plenary na kami.
/i PAge--ts't
a working recess for us," he
So it will be
said.
"sarado ang showroom fg Senado,
meaning the Plenaiy, Pero ang work-
shops, ang committees, like Finance, will
be working," added the senator.
As to the word warbehveen Senators
Panfilo "Ping" Lacson and Franklin Dri-
lon with Rep. Fredenil Castro and other
House lawmakers, Angara said such dis-
agreements are expected during budget
hearings.
But making sure the national budget
is compliant with the Constitution is im-
portant, Angara said.
'At the encl of the day, dapat compli-
ant ang budget sa sinabi ng SuPreme
Court. Yun ang importante. Yung mga
sagutan, minsan hindi nakakatulong,
kasi minsan nakakatagal ng usapan
(the budget must be consistent with
the Supreme Court ruling. That is
what's important. The word war,
sometimes, doesn't helP, because a
lot of times it contributes to thgdelay
in discussions)," he stressed. '
Angara warned that lhe delaY in
approving the budget would impact
the country's economy.
"Six months we worked on a re-
enacted budget. We had no new cog-
struction projects. And we really sar
how our economic growth luffered
because of this," he Pointed out