Congress promised to submit 2019 budget on March 1 —DBM’s Diokno

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno told reporters during a breakfast forum on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, that Congress promised to submit the proposed General Appropriations Act of 2019 for President Rodrigo Duterte's signature by March 1. Photo: Ted Cordero, GMA News

The proposed P3.757-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2019, ratified by the Senate and House of Representatives, is expected to be submitted for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature on March 1, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Wednesday.

Congress promised to transmit the enrolled bill—signed by both the House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Senate President Vicente Sotto III—to Malacañang by the first day of March.

“That’s their promise,” Diokno said in his weekly media forum in Manila.

On February 8, the both chambers of Congress ratified the 2019 General Appropriations Act, a mode that is expected to close the period of a reenacted budget. 

“Now that they passed it, the uncertainty is gone. It will be in Malacañang by March first,” the Budget chief said.

Once submitted to Malacañang , the DBM has four to seven days to review the proposed measure.

“Then, if there are amendments, we will make a recommendation. The president has 30 days to act on it,” Diokno said.

“By March we will pass it ... We will have a new budget by the end of the first quarter,” he said.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo earlier said the Executive branch will “thoroughly review” the spending bill “to ensure that all items comply with the Constitution and the law, and more importantly, they redound to the benefit of the Filipino people.”

Since the government is working on a reenacted budget during the first quarter, Diokno said a catch up plan is being crafted to ensure efficient spending on projects and services for the rest of the year.

“We will figure out what’s the monthly program for the next 10 months,” he said. —VDS, GMA News