MANILA, Philippines — Was it fast work or was the House of Representatives trying to pull a fast one? After two weeks of debates, the House ended a marathon session that started at 9:30 a.m. Thursday by approving on second reading the P1.54-trillion national government budget for 2010 at 2:41 a.m. Friday. As in previous budget deliberations of the 14th Congress, the vote came on the eve of a long congressional recess, ensuring the budget’s approval on third and final reading when the session resumes in November. And as in previous budget deliberations, the remarkable thing was how House members could examine and discuss the subject for two weeks without finding anything worth changing in it.
One good thing about the House’s early action on the budget is that it diminishes the chances of government operating on a reenacted budget, which would have allowed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to use it like a colossal pork barrel during an election year. But if there was any time the House needed to proceed at a deliberate pace in approving the budget this was it.
The appropriations bill was crafted amid the global economic crisis when easing the lot of the disadvantaged demanded the highest priority not only for humanitarian reasons but for political reasons as well. Thus, the biggest increases were proposed for the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which administers the government’s cash transfer program and other poverty alleviation measures, and the Department of Agrarian Reform, which is implementing a bridge-building program known as Tulay ng Pangulo.
Even then some congressmen were already wondering if the administration had dropped the economic stimulus package that was supposed to rev up an economy that has been slowing down. The chair of the appropriations committee, Quirino Rep. Junie Cua, asked why the capital outlay had been slashed to P183 billion from P233 billion, when more roads and other infrastructure were needed to spur rural development and attract investments. Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, who voted against the appropriations bill, questioned the wisdom of cutting government spending at a time when the economy needed a boost. He also asked why the administration reduced the budget for rice production to P3 billion from P10 billion if it was aiming to bring about self-sufficiency in rice.
But the biggest question of all is: What is there in the budget for the areas devastated by Typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” and the victims of the floods and landslides? How do our legislators intend to provide relief and bring normalcy to the lives of millions affected by the calamities? What will they do with the dikes, roads and bridges that have been washed away, the crops that have been ruined and the houses and school buildings that have been destroyed?
Sure Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the use of up to P12 billion in unprogrammed funds for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas damaged by the typhoons. But how far will P12 billion go? The damage to crops and irrigation systems already amounts to P18.4 billion, according to the latest estimate of the Department of Agriculture. What about the damage to roads, bridges, school buildings, hospitals and other infrastructure? What about the tens of thousands who lost their homes and their means of livelihood? What about those who need to be relocated from hazardous areas and those who need help to rebuild their homes? Where will the funds for dredging rivers and waterways, for improving drainage systems and the hundred other things that need to be built or rebuilt come from? Are our congressmen counting on foreign donors to cough up the funds for reconstruction?
Given all these urgent needs that require government funding, the approval of the budget crafted before the twin calamities seemed like a sneaky maneuver. The last thing congressmen will do is part with their pork barrel, particularly in an election year, and suggestions were already being made to put in a reconstruction fund. They made sure they keep it, which is most likely now with only the Senate, another pork-addicted body, left to deliberate on the budget. Unless by some miracle, President Arroyo finds the same kind of political will she has vowed to exercise in clearing the waterways of informal settlers and decides to ax it.
