Palace calls on Congress for ‘timely’ passage of 2020 nat’l budget
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has called on Congress for the “timely” passage of the 2020 national budget as the economic slowdown in the second quarter was blamed on delays in the passage of the 2019 expenditure plan.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Thursday that the economy grew at a slower pace of 5.5 percent from April to June this year.
“While growth has slowed down in the second quarter of this year, the Office of the President has been assured by our economic managers that this is simply a temporary setback,” Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement Friday.
READ: Palace: PH GDP slowdown just ‘temporary’
Panelo, quoting Socioeconomic Secretary Ernesto Pernia, said the delay in the passage of the 2019 national budget “aggravated” the country’s economic growth.
“Elaborating, Secretary Pernia said, first, there was the El Niño phenomenon, which saw palay contracting by 5.5% and corn by 8.4% and slowing household consumption from 6.2% to 5.6%. Second, the election ban in May on public works, infrastructure and related spending which dropped by 27.2% aggravated by the budget impasse affected our progress in the second quarter,” he said.
The Palace official then urged Congress to pass the budget on time.
During the 40th Cabinet meeting on Monday, the President and his officials approved the Executive department’s proposed P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020.
READ: Duterte approves P4.1 trillion 2020 national budget
Malacañang is expected to submit the 2020 budget proposal next week.
The passage of the 2019 national budget was delayed due to questionable allocations and alleged pork barrel insertions.
“The Office of the President also joins Secretary Pernia in calling on the Legislative Branch for the timely passage of the national budget for the Fiscal Year 2020 for the continuing implementation of the Build, Build, Build Program,” Panelo said.
It also called on Congress to prioritize the legislative agenda of the President.
“[W]e request our lawmakers to prioritize the legislative agenda of the President, which include the TRABAHO bill, the Foreign Investment Act, the Public Service Act, the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, and a revised Security of Tenure Bill, to address investment uncertainties caused by external factors,” he said.
“The Palace,” he added,” remains optimistic in pursuing our macroeconomic targets despite the challenges we face as a nation.”
He assured the public that “notwithstanding these inevitable challenges, this administration, through our economic managers, has undertaken several measures to ensure that our domestic growth remains sustainable.”
He further said that “the Rice Tariffication Law is being implemented to protect our farmers from various risks in the market, such as the effects of El Niño, and make their sector more profitable.”
“To make growth sustainable and lasting,” he said, “the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), through Secretary Pernia, suggested the creation of an apex water body to address the water crisis brought by the El Niño and mechanisms for resiliency in the agriculture sector, either through technology or insurance program, in the wake of weather disturbances brought by climate change.”
He added that Duterte “has directed concerned government agencies to undertake pre-procurement processes to attain target disbursements in addressing the economic impact of the previous ban on public construction activities and have now instructed them to expedite the approval of permits and requirements for public construction projects.”
The President, Panelo said, has also ordered the Department of Information and Communications Technology, together with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, “to aim higher value-added business processes to enhance the IT-BMP sector with the hope that those in the said industry would undergo retooling to further improve their skills.”
He said tourism, “which made a priority early on, and fortunately, international travel has not been affected by the ongoing trade wars even as we expect the growth of this sector offset the drop in our exports.”
“The President and this Administration are facing these challenging times head-on, confident that our country will go back on track in keeping the growth momentum in the right trajectory,” said Panelo, adding that “the President remains committed to making the lives of all Filipinos secure and comfortable.” /kga
