The review of the 2022 budget is still ongoing.
Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles gave this simple explanation Tuesday, Dec. 28, regarding the sudden postponement of the signing of the P5.024-trillion national budget for next year.
The ceremonial signing of the budget measure--which had already been ratified by the House of Representatives and the Senate--was supposed to take place Tuesday in Malacañang.
"Tuluy-tuloy pa po iyong review process. Hindi pa po natatapos iyong review process at pagsusuri noong budget (The review process is continuous. The review process and the study of the budget is not yet finished)," Nograles said in a virtual press conference.
"Alam ninyo medyo—hindi medyo, makapal ang budget book ‘no, napakakapal ng budget book, ilang libro po iyan na kailangan isa-isahin (You know, the budget book is somewhat...not just somewhat, it's quite thick, it has a lot of volumes that must be scoured through)," he said.
Incidentally, Nograles is a former House Appropriations Committee chairman. Hence he is familiar with the structure and contents of the voluminous budget bill that, if approved by the President, would serve as the basis for all government spending in 2022.
"We would want to assure and we assure the public that the budget will be signed. Pipirmahan po ni Pangulong Duterte ang budget for 2022 bago pa man sumapit ang Dec. 31 (President Duterte will sign the budget for 2022 before Dec. 31)," he said.
The 2022 national budget is the biggest budget ever legislated in the country and is the second under the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The government typically aims to enact the budget bill before the start of its prescribed year to avoid complications.
President Duterte said last week that he expects the 2022 budget to give a boost to the relief and rehabilitation efforts in connection with the typhoon "Odette" disaster. It was only last Dec. 16 when Odette ravaged various provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.
"May prosesong dinadaanan ‘yan dito sa executive department after na ma-ratify ‘yan ng both the House of Representatives at ng Senado at ‘pag sinubmit po ‘yan dito sa executive branch, sa Malacañang ay dumadaan po ‘yan sa vetting at review process (Once it gets ratified by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and gets sent to Malacañang, it undergoes a vetting and review process)," Nograles said.
"So ilang araw na lamang po at matatapos na rin iyong review process (So in a few days the review process will be finished) and the President will immediately sign the budget," the Palace official said.