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Saturday, July 22, 2006
Senator pushes new negotiations to resolve 2006 budget deadlock
SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has urged the bicameral conference committee on budget to resolve its differences for the last time and pass the 2006 national budget.
Pimentel said having a reenacted budget for the rest of the year will affect projects and services identified in the 2006 national budget, which is more than P100 billion compared to the P918 billion 2005 budget.
"It's much better if the 2006 budget is passed than having a reenacted 2005 budget. Let the funds that were cut from the appropriations of the Office of the
President be realigned to agencies that suffer from insufficient resources in proportion to their mandated tasks," he said.
The education, agrarian reform, social welfare and development and science and technology departments are among the government offices that should benefit from the transfer of the funds using the P5 billion Kilos Asenso and P3.7 billion Kalayaan Barangay allocations to the Office of the President.
"These funds are intended to make local officials minions and automatons of the President so that they would support her initiative to amend the Constitution to perpetuate herself in power and to turn a blind eye to the plunder of the economy, oppression of the people and corruption that characterize the administration," Pimentel said.
Instead of criticizing the Senate for scrapping the Kilos Asenso and Kalayaan Barangay funds, the Senate minority leader said local officials should pursue the approval of the 2006 national budget worth P1.027 trillion that the Senate passed.
If the 2006 national budget is not approved, Pimentel said the local government units (LGUs) would not be able to get the P15 billion increase in their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
Local executives are entitled to P166 billion IRA under the 2006 national budget, P15 billion higher than the P151 billion IRA under the 2005 budget.
The deadlock on the budget approval came when the Senate contingent in the bicameral conference refused to restore budget cut in the amount of P26 billion under the appropriated program. (REC/Sunnex)
(July 22, 2006 issue)
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