Malacañang is counting on Congress to approve the final version of the P2.6-trillion 2015 budget bill before lawmakers go on Christmas vacation, despite protests by minority members that the annual money measure okayed by the House on Wednesday was legally flawed.
The budget bill bears questionable insertions not fully discussed in plenary, including a redefinition of savings that runs against the Supreme Court ruling on the outlawed Disbursement Acceleration Program.
“We would like to thank the House of Representatives for the speedy resolution and passing of the 2015 budget in their chamber,” Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters.
Lacierda added: “Now, the process of budget approval goes to the Senate, and we also hope that the Senate will look into the budget, and we hope that, before the year ends, the budget will be approved.”
The Palace official also downplayed reported complaints raised by opposition lawmakers that the budget bill was railroaded by House majority members to preempt further deliberations on the controversial last-minute errata submitted by the Department of Budget and Management, saying this was the version of the minority.
“That’s what they are saying. But the proposed budget, if you look at it carefully, is a budget where we showed where the money is going and where or what are the programs,” Lacierda said.
He insisted that the 2015 budget was “designed to ensure the continuation of social services to our countrymen and also to make measures, improve the current infrastructure that we have, to make sure that we will have a better climate for investment, and also that those who are the poorest of the poor will not be left behind.”
“That’s our main goal, and we will continue to do so, despite all this noise from the Makabayan bloc,” Lacierda added.