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AFTER an
opposition senator worried why the 2008 budget bill had
not been enacted and the country continues to operate
under last year’s spending law, President Arroyo
announced Monday she will sign Tuesday the
P1.227-trillion national budget that had been
transmitted to the Palace about two weeks ago.
The
President, speaking at the fourth Mindanao Cooperative
Summit in Cagayan de Oro City Monday, said, “Tomorrow,
we will sign the budget....It is a budget that reflects
the will of the government to invest in the people and
keep the economy on a strong, stable path.”
Budget
Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. took exception to the
allegation of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel
Jr. that Malacañang is deliberately delaying the signing
of the 2008 national budget to suit its interests, and
noted that Congress only transmitted the budget to
Malacañang on February 27.
“We take
exception to the accusations that the deliberate delay
in the signing of the 2008 budget was triggered by
partisan political interests. To set the record
straight, the timetable for the approval has not in any
way been upset.”
Pimentel
had said that while the Conference Committee Report on
the General Appropriations Bill for 2008 was ratified by
the chambers on January 28, “it was, however, officially
transmitted to, and received by the Department of Budget
and Management on February 27, 2008.”
Andaya
said the House would be “in the best position to explain
the time lag” which, based on Palace experience, could
have been caused by “the reconciliation and
consolidation of the House and Senate versions [and] the
printing of the 1,197-page document.”
In a
related development, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC),
anticipating a veto by President Arroyo of special
provisions on debt-service reductions, has written both
Houses of Congress asking them to override this possible
Malacañang decision.
Milo
Tanchuling, secretary-general of the FDC, said they made
the move following receipt of such information
supposedly coming from the Department of Budget and
Management.
“Should
Mrs. Arroyo veto specific stipulations on debt-service
reduction, we urge the leaderships of both Houses of
Congress to once again rise to the occasion by defending
the said special provisions by means of a congressional
override,” said the FDC letter signed by Tanchuling.
A
P25-billion debt-payment reduction came from the
suspension of P5 billion in interest payments to loan
agreements challenged as tainted with fraud, the
suspension of P5 billion worth of premature payments to
proposed loans
still in the pipeline, and P15.9-billion savings due to
the peso appreciation.
“In a
time when our nation is undergoing a painful political
crisis brought about by an aborted anomalous loan
agreement that could have led to the government’s
acquisition of another unnecessary debt, the Congress’s
firm stand on the said special provisions will be a
welcome respite,” said Tanchuling. |
