Lawmakers tasked to steer deliberations in Congress of the proposed P2.7-trillion national budget for 2013 have decided to synchronize their schedules to fast-track proceedings and ensure the early approval of the money measure just before the Christmas break.
The move will thwart a re-enacted budget, which the two Houses have managed to do for the last two years.
Sen. Franklin Drilon, finance committe chairman, yesterday said he and his Lower House counterpart, appropriations committee chairman Rep. Emilio Abaya, agreed to such a set up to seal the approval of the budget bill before year-end for submission to President Aquino.
Failure by Congress to enact the general appropriations measure before Dec. 31 will automatically effect a reenacted national budget.
The House of Representatives is moving to pass the bill on second reading before Congress adjourns anew on Sept. 22, approve it on third reading when sessions resume on Oct. 8 and transmit it to the Senate before the next adjournment on Oct. 20, Drilon said.
The senator said they will immediately conduct a series of marathon hearings to scrutinize the budget proposals of the different departments and submit a committee report recommending the upper chamber’s version of the money measure for plenary consideration when senators return from another adjournment on Nov. 5.
“We are looking to pass (the 2013) budget in the Senate on second and third reading before the end of November,” Drilon said.
The hearings by the sub-committees are expected to last until end-October creating ample time for Senate floor deliberations by November, said Drilon.
Drilon is also confident the Congress will be able to sustain the momentum it had gained in the last two years of passing the budget before the year ends.
“In the past two years, we were able to pass the General Appropriations Acts before Dec. 31 of each year, and if we were able to do it then, I am confident that we can do it again with the cooperation of everyone,” Drilon said.
Congress leaders would then convene a bicameral conference committee to reconcile conflicting provisions in the Senate and House versions of the P2-trillion plus national budget and have the final budget version ratified before they go on Christmas recess on Dec. 22.