MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte may sign the 2020 national budget and will definitely veto unconstitutional items in the spending bill, Malañang said Thursday.
“Sabi niya (He said) January, first week,” Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing when asked when Duterte will sign the 2020 budget.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier said the P4.1 trillion budget may not be signed by Duterte before 2019 ends, citing the delay in the printing of the spending bill due to several holidays.
Sotto: 2020 nat’l budget may not be signed before year ends
Regarding Senator Panfilo Lacson’s revelation that the House leadership realigned at least P83 billion worth of projects before the Congressional bicameral conference committee signed the 2020 budget, Panelo assured that the President, as a lawyer, will scrutinize the proposed budget bill before signing it.
“When somebody says it’s unconstitutional, it doesn’t mean its unconstitutional. This President is a lawyer, he knows what is unconstitutional or not. So he decides for himself,” Panelo told reporters in a Palace briefing.
Duterte earlier signed into law a measure that will extend the validity of the 2019 budget for another year.