Amid budget mess, Duterte says he won't sign ‘illegal’ document

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday he will not sign an "illegal document" amid allegations that changes were made in the proposed national budget for 2019 even after it has been ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

"I will not sign anything that would be an illegal document," Duterte said in a speech during the awarding ceremony for for the Outstanding Women in Law Enforcement and National Security of the Philippines in Malacañang.

Duterte talked about the negative effects of prolonged implementation of reenacted budget on the country's economy.

"Magkaroon tayo ng slide sa GDP [gross domestic product] niyan if we are going to reenact the budget and everybody will suffer including law enforcement. It will decrease our GDP," he said.

Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier said that Senate President Vicente Sotto III will not sign an enrolled bill on this year's P3.757-trillion proposed appropriations for President Rodrigo Duterte's signature if the House of Representatives sticks to its multi-billion peso worth of amendments supposedly to favor allies of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Lacson warned the government will continue to operate on a reenacted budget until August when Arroyo, whose term as Pampanga representative ends in June, is no longer the leader of the House.

House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. said last week they were only itemizing lump sum appropriations “without departing from the approved specifications” of the ratified budget and “by so doing make the budget more transparent and easy to scrutinize.”

On Sunday, Andaya said the senators are free to tell Duterte what items he should veto in the proposed 2019 budget if they still think the House made an illegal move in itemizing lump sum funds after the measure has been ratified by both chambers.

Duterte's spokesperson Salvador Panelo  has repeatedly assured the public that Duterte and the Executive department will scrutinize every item of the spending bill.

The Palace official also said Duterte will exercise his veto power if some items in proposed budget failed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that declared unconstitutional the pork barrel system. —LDF, GMA News