Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon urged President Duterte Sunday to consider calling a special session from Nov.  9 to 13 to guarantee the approval of the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 on time.

Drilon said this will also give Congress sufficient time to debate on the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on the floor. The senator said the holding of a special session is a “safety net” in case there will be delays in the bicameral conference committee.

“We will debate on the budget from Nov. 9 to 13. We can finish it within five to seven days and allot two weeks for the bicam,” Drilon said.

“Congress can send to Malacanang the 2021 GAA by the first week of December so that the President can sign it before Jan. 1, 2021,” he added.

Duterte had earlier called a special session from Oct. 13 to 16 after warning the House of Representatives, which adjourned session last Oct. 6, to solve the impasse on the leadership dispute between House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.

The President, in certifying the budget bill as urgent, said the special session is to ensure the resumption of the congressional deliberations on the bill which lawmakers fear would be stalled due to the leadership struggle at the  House.

Congress is set to adjourn on Oct. 17 and will resume session only until middle of November. Under Section 15, Article 6 of the Constitution, the President is allowed to call for a special session at any time.

“Hindi puwedeng magkaroon ng reenacted budget. Dalawampung taon ko nang titiningnan ang budget, alam ko na ang sama ng epekto kapag nagkaroon ng reenacted budget lalo na ngayong may pandemya (We cannot have a reenacted budget. I’ve been scrutinizing the budget for 20 years and I know the negative effects of having a reenacted budget especially now that there is a pandemic),” Drilon said.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of passing the 2021 national budget on time. Just look at these alarming figures: 7.6 million families are hungry, 7.3 million lost jobs last April and 4.6 million in July, and 5.5 million of our countrymen can be pushed into poverty next without sufficient economic relief from the government” Drilon said.

“We are facing a full-year economic contraction of 6.9 percent as projected by the World Bank,” he warned, pointing out that the WB’s forecast, as well as most other financial institutions, was beyond the government’s projection of a 4.5-6.6 percent full-year contraction.

Although still insufficient, Drilon said next year’s proposed national budget will provide additional funding for the hiring of health personnel, purchase of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and allocation for emergency repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), livelihood and emergency employment, and assistance to small and medium enterprises.

He also said he does not expect the bicam to be smooth sailing given the huge lump sum appropriations in the budget. The Senate, he said, will question other controversial items such as the P19 billion in anti-insurgency funds, the lack of a special amelioration program¸ the insufficient funding for the Department of Health (DoH), among others.