Solons reach deal on 2000 budget

Senators and congressmen sitting in the bicameral conference committee on the budget have finally agreed on the final shape of the proposed outlay this year.

Rep. Gilberto Duavit (LAMP, Rizal), chairman of the House appropriations committee, told reporters yesterday that as agreed upon by a small group representing the conference panel, President Estrada's proposed P651-billion budget for this year would be reduced by P22 billion, to P629 billion.

He said of the P22-billion reduction, P7 billion would be in the form of "hard" or effective cuts, while the remaining P15 billion would be unprogrammed or unfunded expenditures for which the President can disburse funds only if there are enough revenues.

Duavit said the conference committee's technical staff has been given until Monday to draft the panel's report so it can be presented to the House and the Senate middle of next week.

"We are hopeful that we can finally approved the budget before the end of the month so the President can sign it into law next month," he added.

Besides Duavit, those who attended Wednesday night's meeting were Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas (LAMP, Cebu), Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City), and Rep. Leandro Verceles (LAMP, Catanduanes), a vice chairman of the appropriations committee.

Those who represented the Senate were Sen. John Osmeña, chairman of the Senate finance committee, Majority Leader Franklin Drilon and Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona Jr.

Duavit co-chairs the conference panel with Osmeña.

Drilon and Guingona said they expect the bicameral report to be finished next month.

Bicameral conference on the 2000 budget has been due to Mr. Estrada's request for Congress to fund an additional P30 billion in internal revenue allotment (IRA) for local government units (LGUs).

Duavit said out of the amount requested by the President, the budget conferees funded P20 billion and put the balance of P10 billion in the unprogrammed portion of the budget.

He said all told, LGUs will have P111 billion in IRA this year, an amount that is roughly a sixth of the reduced P629-billion outlay.

"I have no doubt that the President will release to them the balance of P10 billion once the government generates enough revenues for it. They (local officials) should trust him," he said.

Duavit added that the decision to substantially accommodate Mr. Estrada's request brought the originally agreed budget level of P609 billion to P629 billion.

The conference committee funded the additional P20-billion IRA from increased revenues as projected by newly installed Finance Secretary Jose Pardo and from reductions in the appropriations intended for national government agencies (NGAs).

Duavit said the P629-billion budget includes P13 billion for the 10 percent salary increase promised by the President to the more than one million government workers.

He said the conference panel will write a special section in the budget law providing that the adjustment will be retroactive to Jan. 1.

"Our government personnel will hopefully get their back pay and increase next month," he said.

In a related development, former senator and now Rep. Ernesto Herrera (LAMP, Bohol) criticized Pardo yesterday for pushing for the 20 percent increase in fees government agencies collect and the imposition of new taxes.

Herrera told reporters that Pardo's advocacies amount to "unwarranted torture of the common folk, because in almost the same breath, the finance department is batting for tax amnesties for big tax evaders."

"Why the offer of tax amnesties for big taxpayers? Why condone their delinquencies in the middle of a huge deficit even as small taxpayers -- especially employees whose taxes are withheld -- are made to suffer more through taxes?" he asked.

Herrera said Pardo and the new economic team of the President are taking the easy way out of the problem of ballooning budget deficit by increasing fees and imposing new taxes.

"They should instead concentrate on improving the collection of taxes, billions of which are lost to evasion and corruption," he stressed.