Duterte threatens to veto entire 2019 budget
Credit to Author: CATHERINE S. VALENTE, TMT| Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2019 17:44:14 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday threatened to veto the entire proposed national budget for this year if the allocations were unlawful.
In his speech during a campaign rally in Bacolod City, Duterte said the national spending plan was still being studied by his legal team to ensure that it was not against the Constitution.
“Ang budget kasa-submit lang. I have to sign it pagbalik ko pa. Pinag-aralan pa galing Budget to the Office of the President. The Office of the President is not the budget, so ang legal ko magbasa uli. Ngayon pagka talagang tagilid ‘yan, I will outright veto the entire budget,” the President said.
“Eh hindi magkasundo ang Congress pati ang Senado eh, pati yung mga insertions diyan titignan ko. Pagka tagilid talaga, I will not hesitate to veto the entire budget. Eh ‘di pasensya tayong lahat,” he said.
The President is expected to sign the P3.7 trillion national budget for this year on Monday, April 15, but the event was removed from his official schedule.
His spokesman Salvador Panelo on Thursday said the signing of the budget may happen after the Holy Week, contrary to his earlier announcement.
“Kinalendar na pero mukhang pinag-aaralan pa eh…baka after Holy Week (The budget signing has been calendared already but it seems that it is still being studied, so maybe it will be signed after the Holy Week),” Panelo told reporters.
“Naka-calendar tapos tinanggal sa calendar, pwede ibalik (It was calendared and then removed but it may still push through),” he added.
Both houses of Congress in February ratified the 2019 budget bill after months of arguments over supposed unauthorized “insertions.”
But final approval was delayed because of an impasse between the Senate and the House of Representatives over the itemization of lump sum appropriations after Congress ratified the bill.
The delay caused the government to operate under the 2018 budget.
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