Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officer-in-charge Janet Abuel (File photo courtesy of DBM)
MANILA -- Submission of the proposed PHP4.1-trillion 2020 national budget will be delayed until the first week of August, contrary to the practice in the last three years of submitting it a few hours after President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).
This was disclosed by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officer-in-charge Janet Abuel, who assured the public that they remain “on track” and “within the timeline” for the budget preparations.
“Maybe now we have to wait because we need to have a very close coordination with Congress. We need to wait for their leadership so that whatever we have proposed will not be put to waste,” she said.
The law provides that the President’s SONA marks the start of Congress’ regular session. Both Houses convene for this event every fourth Monday of July.
Abuel explained that the law allows the DBM to submit the proposed national budget for the following year within 30 days after the SONA, which falls on July 22 this year.
She clarified that they are “more optimistic” that the proposed budget will not face major hurdles such as what transpired last year when Congress gave its nod in February instead of December.
“We’re not really fearing but we’re preparing for it just in case that’s why we don’t want to rush. We want to wait instead,” he said.
The DBM chief said they are “finalizing within the week” the proposed budget for new programs next year.
DBM documents earlier showed that share of new programs to the proposed budget for next year amounts to PHP911.7 billon or about 22.2 percent of the total.
On the other hand, PHP1.843 trillion or about 44.9 percent is the planned funding for the various agencies’ on-going priority programs. (PNA)
