President Duterte Finally Signed The 2019 Budget Yesterday
DUTERTE FINALLY SIGNED – The P3.7-trillion national budget was finally signed by the president yesterday (April 15, 2019)
In the previous reports, it was already expected that the president might sign the budget before holy week. Read more about it here.
The signing of Republic Act 11260 this year was carried without the presence of any member from either chambers in the Congress. There was no ceremony as well.
This based on an article from Philstar. According to the article,
The President decided not to have a public ceremony. Instead, he allegedly signed the proposed budget with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea as the only person with him at the Malacañang’s study room.
It was confirmed by Medialdea and Senate President Vicente Sotto III last night, that the budget was signed without the P95.3-billion budget realignments proposed by the House of Representatives.
Medialdea reportedly informed Vicente Sotto III through phone that the president vetoed parts of the proposed budget based on senate recommendations.
Medialdea also confired the P95.3 billion budget vetoed by the president in public works projects because they are not in the list of admin’s priorities.
Yesterday, lawmakers were invited to attend the signing of the budget set at 4pm. But they were told to wait for the final words if the signing would be carried.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles even revealed that there were no information coming out about the budget’s current state.
Meanwhile, the president said during his speech in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, that he is prepared to reject the proposed budget if he finds any anomaly.
He said he is not hesitant of vetoing the entire budget if it’s really lopsided. He expressed this in his statement:
“Kapag tagilid talaga, I will not hesitate to veto the entire budget, eh di pasensya tayong lahat.”
“If it’s really unsound, I will not hesitate to veto the entire budget, we’ll all just take it as it is.”
That is all there is to it, at least for now. We’ll post updates as soon as we got them.
