BREAKING: Bill extending availability of funds under 2019 budget awaits Duterte OK

President Rodrigo Duterte. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The bill seeking to extend the validity of the capital outlay (CO) and maintenance and other operating expenses in the 2019 national budget for one year now only needs President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature to be enacted into law.

This came after the Senate on Tuesday approved on third reading House Bill 5437 with 19 affirmative votes, no abstention, and no negative votes.

The bill amends Section 65 of RA 11260 or the 2019 General Appropriations Act on the availability of appropriations to extend the same from December 31, 2019, to December 30, 2020.

Under Section 65 of RA 11260, “all appropriations authorized in this Act shall be available for release and obligation for the purpose specified, and under the same special provisions applicable thereto, until December 31, 2019.”

Further, Executive Order No. 91 also states that appropriations for CO and MOOE for 2019 “shall be valid for obligation until December 31, 2019.”

If not enacted into law, unused budget for 2019 will lapse and will be reverted to the National Treasury.

“As of September 30 this year, a little more than P261 billion of the people’s money—that has already been programmed but has ye to be released—could lapse if our bill does not pass muster,” Senator Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on finance, said in a statement.

The House of Representatives approved the bill with 192 affirmative votes last November 18, allowing the Senate to act on the measure.

Edited by JPV