House OKs P1.8-T 2012 national budget

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. Inquirer file photo

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the P1.8 trillion General Appropriations Act for 2012, the budget proposal from Malacañang left almost intact, except for returning the control of the staff budgets of constitutional bodies to the judiciary and the legislature.

At the plenary session Tuesday, 198 House members voted to approve on third and final reading House Bill No. 5023, with 26 against and one abstention.

“The overwhelming vote for the earliest approval in the House is above all a vote of confidence in the leadership of PNoy (Aquino),” said House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

One of the “no” voters, party-list member Luzviminda Ilagan (Gabriela) called the 2012 budget “antipeople.”

“The budget reflects the present administration’s lack of strategic direction to develop our economy in a well-rounded way,” she said.

The measure was approved by the House a few days before Congress goes on recess, which should give the Senate enough time to pass it before the end of the year.

It did not have to go through individual amendments to speed up the process. Members were just asked to pass their written amendments.

One of the key changes was the return of P4.9 billion of the disputed P101-billion Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) to the Supreme Court and other independent institutions which had protested what they considered as a violation of their fiscal autonomy.

The P39.5 billion budget for the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, the centerpiece of the Aquino government’s antipoverty strategy, was left intact as administration legislators consider it “untouchable.”