It would be impossible for Duterte to sign proposed 2019 nat'l budget by next week -- Sotto
By Roel Tibay
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said it would be impossible for President Duterte to sign the P3.757-trillion proposed 2019 national budget by next week.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III
(Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN) Sotto rejected on Monday the December 15 deadline aimed by the Chief Executive for the enactment of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), as reported by Albay Representative Joey Salceda in a television interview last week, to avoid a reeneacted budget next year. " Not physically possible. Printing (of the GAB) alone takes days. Assuming we are able to pass it by next week, paano (how about the) bicam and printing?" Sotto told reporters in a text message. Instead, Sotto said the "House of Representatives should have considered that when they delayed their transmittal" of the budget bill to the Senate. He blamed the revamp in the House leadership as the "major cause of delay" in the approval of the budget. The Senate is scheduled to start tomorrow its marathon deliberation of the P3.757-trillion 2019 in its attempt to heed the Palace's appeal for an earlier passage of the priority measure. Leaders of the Senate aimed to approve the GAB on final reading by December 12. But other senators are also apprehensive that they may not be able to approve the budget on time, stressing that they aim for a quality review of the House-approved appropriations. Sotto said the Senate, last year, started their debates on the 2018 national budget in October.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III(Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN) Sotto rejected on Monday the December 15 deadline aimed by the Chief Executive for the enactment of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), as reported by Albay Representative Joey Salceda in a television interview last week, to avoid a reeneacted budget next year. " Not physically possible. Printing (of the GAB) alone takes days. Assuming we are able to pass it by next week, paano (how about the) bicam and printing?" Sotto told reporters in a text message. Instead, Sotto said the "House of Representatives should have considered that when they delayed their transmittal" of the budget bill to the Senate. He blamed the revamp in the House leadership as the "major cause of delay" in the approval of the budget. The Senate is scheduled to start tomorrow its marathon deliberation of the P3.757-trillion 2019 in its attempt to heed the Palace's appeal for an earlier passage of the priority measure. Leaders of the Senate aimed to approve the GAB on final reading by December 12. But other senators are also apprehensive that they may not be able to approve the budget on time, stressing that they aim for a quality review of the House-approved appropriations. Sotto said the Senate, last year, started their debates on the 2018 national budget in October.