House appropriations panel chair fears 2020 GAB withdrawal to ‘derail’ timely budget OK

House Committee on Appropriations chair Isidro Ungab has formally expressed his opposition to the withdraw of the bill providing for the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 at the House, claiming that it would "derail" the timely approval of next year's appropriations.

On Monday, Isidro sent a letter to Deputy Speaker for Finance Luis Raymund Villafuerte after the latter moved to withdraw House Bill 4228, or the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), from the plenary on August 28 after it was filed for first reading on that same day.

Villafuerte said on Sunday that he moved to withdraw the budget bill as it was prematurely filed considering that budget presentations by various government agencies are not finished yet.

But Ungab said Villafuerte's move to withdraw and amend the 2020 GAB "will definitely derail the schedule and approval of the budget."

"The staff are now all busy preparing for the plenary and pre-plenary deliberations, gathering data  and reports requested by members of the House related to the budget. To prepare another set of General Appropriations Bill will require enormous time, efforts and resources that will surely affect or delay the passage of the 2020 Budget," he added.

Ungab also said the 2020 GAB which the appropriations committee secretariat prepared was a "faithful copy of the NEP (National Expenditure Program)," and that the printing of which is "almost finished."

The appropriations panel chair also pointed out that there is a schedule of activities that they are following so that the 2020 budget will be passed before the congressional recess on October 5.

According to Ungab, the last day of the budget briefings is on September 6 and the preparation of the committee report will be on September 10.

Plenary deliberations will start on September 12 until October 4, at which the budget bill is planned to be approved on third and final reading.

Ungab also said that the withdrawal of the budget bill will question their deliberations.

"Needless to say, any alteration of the National Expenditure Program or NEP, which is the version of your revised General Appropriations Bill, will surely raise doubts on our proceedings and the House will be questioned on why it will alter the proposed budget prepared by the Executive Department," he said.

At the start of the budget presentation of the Department of Science and Technology on Monday, Ungab also addressed concerns regarding the budget deliberations at the House.

He said that despite the withdrawal of the 2020 GAB, budget briefings with the appropriations panel will go on as usual.

"The briefings will continue as the same considering that as a matter of practice and as a matter of procedure, we are still conducting budget briefings. This has been the procedure throughout all the years," he said. — RSJ, GMA News