DBM Press Release on the FY 2011 Budget

ABAD: PRESIDENT, CONGRESS LEADERSHIP AGREE TO PASS 2011 BUDGET BY YEAR-END

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio B. Abad today announced that President Benigno S. Aquino III and the leadership of both chambers of Congress have agreed to pass the “Reform Budget of 2011” in time for its signing into law by January next year.

“The ‘reform’ in the 2011 Reform Budget also comes from its timely passage,” he said, noting that delayed or non-approval of the national budget in past years contributed to  serious delays in the implementation of programs and projects and unconscionable wastage of public funds.

“This is a new government that is working, and working on time. It is important for us that infrastructure and development programs get going in the first semester, before the start of weather disturbances,” he stressed.

Abad also said that in the meeting yesterday between the President; Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Franklin Drilon; and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and House Appropriations Chairman Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, the following agreements have also been made:

    * As a commitment to fiscal prudence, the automatic appropriated items have been excluded from the submitted proposed budget, as Congress has already given continuing authority for automatically appropriated items. This also seeks to avoid a repeat what happened in the 2010 budget where, Congress transferred the amount of P64.6 billion programmed for interest payment to new general appropriations.

    * The President will issue a directive to all national government agencies not to lobby for increases to their agencies’ budget in Congress, to ensure that the government’s expenditure framework is intact and that it is approved in a timely manner.

    * The 2011 Budget sufficiently provides for the priorities of legislators through the Priority Development and Assistance Fund (PDAF), amounting to P24.8 billion, with a very clear menu of options for allocation and measures for transparency and accountability.

The Budget Secretary said that according to the schedule agreed-upon in the meeting between the President and the Congressional leadership, the House of Representatives is expected to approve and transmit the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) to the Senate by November 9.