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Friday, June 09, 2006
Congress fails to pass 2006 budget
MANILA -- As Congress went on recess starting Thursday, the government still has no new budget because of a deadlock in discussions on the 2006 national outlay.
As a consequence, Senator Manuel Villar said the country will have run on a reenacted budget.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said there may be no elections also next year unless Congress passes the 2006 outlay, from which funds for the electoral exercise will be derived.
Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on finance, said he has not talked to Malacañang to resolve the disagreement over the budget.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. blamed Malacañang for the stalemate over the budget at bicameral conference committee level.
The House of Representatives approved P1.053 trillion but the Senate only approved P1.027 trillion after slashing P26 billion from the budget.
Pimentel said the threat of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to veto the 2006 national budget once Congress passes it with the P26 billion cut made by the Senate only shows her dictatorial tendency.
"That should not be her attitude because that would imply that she is not respecting anymore the power of Congress to appropriate funds for the operations of government," the senator said.
On the possibility of having no elections next year, Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. said: "I'm not an alarmist but should this happen, we would have Congress without congressmen and Senate with only 12 senators. If the bicameral (committee) cannot agree, they can't submit a budget. Without this budget, there could be no election."
The Comelec, according to Abalos, has until October at the latest to prepare for the 2007 congressional and local elections and therefore needs the funds as soon as possible to carry out its mandate.
He said the commission needs P1.8 billion to finance the bidding process for all election forms in October. This is so that Comelec can hold the elections on May 14, 2007.
The P1.8 billon budget for the 2007 polls also includes the P1.3 billion funding for the automated counting and canvassing of votes.
A supplementary budget from Malacañang can be used for the 2007 elections but the use of this outlay can put the commission's credibility in doubt, especially after the "Hello Garci" wiretapping scandal that tainted the Comelec's reputation.
"The budget can come from Malacanang but I don't want to give that impression again that there is political color," he said.
Pimentel, however, brushed aside the no election scenario in 2007.
He accused Abalos of raising a false alarm when the election chairman said there would be no election next year because of the failure of Congress to pass the 2006 national budget.
Pimentel said Congress can pass a supplemental budget to fund the 2007 elections.
Abalos also received a tongue-lashing from Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senator Joker Arroyo for saying that there would be no election in 2007 if the 2006 budget were not passed.
"No election? We can't act on the basis of threats," Drilon said.
"Abalos is so smart, imagine he is now predicting there will be no elections, why does he not concentrate on his job. The Comelec should not be prophets of doom or prophets of improbability," Senator Arroyo said. (REC/MSN/Sunnex)
(June 9, 2006 issue)
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