|
By Efren L. Danao Senior
Reporter
Both the Senate and the House of
Representatives on Monday unanimously ratified the bicameral
conference committee report recommending a national budget of P1.2
trillion for 2008.
The budget now goes to President
Gloria Arroyo, who recommended P300 million more than the amount
ratified, for her signature.
The ratification came on the
first day of the resumption of session and almost a month after the
government had used the 2007 national budget for its operation.
Senate President Manuel Villar
Jr. said that with the ratification, the fiscal directions set by
the measure will lead the government to address the needs of the
country and the people meaningfully.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman
of the Senate Finance Committee, said the bicameral panel made
several cuts and realignments in the reconciled version of the
national budget.
The bicameral report gives state
colleges and universities P603.5 million more than the Malacañang
proposal for their research, maintenance and other operating
expenses and capital outlays.
Enrile did not specify the
amount, but he said additional funding will be given for distance
education for public high schools, creation of teaching and
nonteaching positions, payment of unpaid teachers’ benefits,
teachers’ training with emphasis on Science and Math, and repair
of school buildings.
The agricultural sector will get
an increase of P1.9 billion from the President’s budget proposal.
The increase will cover additional funding for the purchase of dairy
animals to be dispersed to farmers, infrastructure support, research
program for organic farming, biotechnology, animal genetics, fishery
and market development.
The judiciary will get P585.7
million more than what Mrs. Arroyo had proposed for the maintenance
of Halls of Justice, operations of lower courts, and capital outlays
for the antigraft court, Sandiganbayan.
“We have also provided for the
establishment of two campuses of the Philippine Science High School
to comply with the requirement to have a PSHS campus in each region
and for the generation of new knowledge and technology research,”
Enrile said.
The National Electrification
Administration will get P600 million more for its barangay or
village electrification program.
Subsistence allowance of
prisoners is increased from P40 a day to P50, in addition to the
provision of P3 a day for their medical allowance.
In view of the strengthening of
the peso against the US dollar, Enrile said they further reduced the
debt service on interest payment by P8.1 billion on foreign loans.
The cut of P300 million came from
the renunciations by Sen. Panfilo Lacson of his P200 million in
priority development assistance fund, more popularly known as
“pork barrel” and by Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th of P100 million
for his infrastructure projects.
The initial meeting of the
bicameral committee had resulted in a stalemate. The House and the
Senate panels agreed to give their respective heads—Rep. Edcel
Lagman of Albay and Enrile—full authority to discuss during the
Christmas break the clashing provisions of the House and Senate
versions.
The one-on-one meeting between
Lagman and Enrile resulted in the final budget of P1.2 trillion,
which was approved by the bicameral body Monday and which the Senate
ratified on the same day.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino
Pimentel Jr. said he agrees with the results in general, except for
the provision of additional funding for population program. He said
this was not the result of any consultations or studies.
Lagman said sports development
got the highest percentage increase, 19.6 percent or P59 million, to
propel Filipino athletes in their quest for gold in the Beijing
Olympics in August 2008.
--With Maricel V. Cruz
|
