By Hannah Torregoza
The Senate will resume hearings on the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 on Tuesday after the House of Representatives’ stand-off with Malacañang on the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) cash-based budgeting scheme.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The Senate finance committee, chaired by Senator Loren Legarda, will start looking into the proposed budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and its attached agencies on Aug. 28.
Also up for scrutiny on Tuesday are the proposed budget for next year by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Career Executive Service Board (CESB), National Youth Commission (NYC), Cooperative Development Authority, Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
Subsequent hearings on Thursday will tackle next year’s proposed budget of the Office of the President and the Presidential Management Staff.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III earlier said the Senate will support the DBM’s proposed cash-based budgeting system and will resume its scheduled hearings based on the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Legarda also echoed Sotto’s position saying the Senate has decided to back the Executive department’s proposal of a cash-based system.
“When the House resumes hearings on the budget, we will be ready to receive the GAB (General Appropriations Bill). I am confident that the House will resolve these concerns in due time,” Legarda had said in a statement.
House members have earlier reiterated their opposition to a cash-based budgeting system, preferring instead an obligation-based budgeting scheme.