Harry Roque on why senators wouldn’t dare allow a reenacted 2022 budget amidst a spat with President Rodrigo Duterte.
HARRY ROQUE — The Presidential spokesperson was asked if the ongoing word war between President Rodrigo Duterte and the senators would lead to a reenacted budget in 2022.
The Palace spokesman was the sole guest of the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum Wednesday, October 20.
When asked if the ongoing word war between the senators and the President would lead to a reenacted budget in 2022, Roque said that he didn’t think Congress – in particular, the Senate – would allow a reenacted national budget to be signed for next year.
“I don’t think so. Let’s talk about brass politics. It’s not to the welfare of reelectionists, congressmen, and senators to have a [reenacted] budget,” Roque said.
In the latest “Talk to the People” public briefing, President Duterte challenged the senators to make good of their threats to slash the budgets of government agencies that they deemed to be uncooperative in the ongoing budget deliberations.
READ ALSO: President Duterte Dares Senate to Cut Office of the President Budget
Manila Bulletin reported that Malacañang has until before the end of the year to enact the proposed PHP 5.024-trillion national budget for 2022, which was a pandemic response budget.
The Palace and the Senate’s playing hardball with each other, however, could derail the budget timetable.
“Let’s face it: they have personal stakes in that budget and they will have to pass it because they need the resources, all the resources that they can get for the elections. And I want you to read between the lines. So the first people who will want to see it passed are the senators given that there is quite a number of them either running for reelection or running for higher office,” Roque said.
Based on the report, reenacting a budget means the previous year’s budget figure would be reused for the current year. The said practice was frowned upon since it suggested that the legislators in Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate – didn’t do their job.
The House of Representatives has already approved the proposed PHP 5.024-trillion budget – the largest in the country’s history – on the third and final reading last month. This means that the ball was on the senators’ court.
Roque pointed out that he didn’t think Congress can take adverse public opinion if they resorted to politicking as an excuse not to pass a pandemic-related budget.
He also reckoned that it will ultimately be the lawmakers – not President Duterte – who will be viewed as remiss if the proposed 2022 national budget wasn’t enacted on time.
“Of course we’re relying on the budget next year also to deal with the ongoing pandemic and if they’re not able to pass it on time, the fault will lie [on] Congress and not the President. So I think again, because of my theory auto-limitation, they will do everything to pass it,” Roque said.
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