Palace can live with budget cut

We’ll take it.

Malacañang said yesterday the cash-strapped government can live with a P5-billion reduction made by the House of Representatives in approving the P725-billion national budget proposed by the executive branch for next year.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno clarified yesterday that the effective cut on the Palace-endorsed General Appropriations Act (GAA) amounted to P5 billion in outright cuts and another P5 billion to be transferred to unprogrammed or unfunded appropriations that can only be spent if revenue collection improves and extra cash is available.

"The P5 billion cut from the original P725 billion is not that huge an amount that would require us to make any drastic adjustments," Diokno said.

He noted that of the P5 billion in outright cuts, P1 billion came from government’s River Banks Improvement Program, which calls for the purchase of lots along the banks of the Pasig River.

Another P2 billion in outright reduction came from the P4-billion land survey fund of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The second-reading approval of the GAA last Friday came after three days of marathon sessions and a day before Congress goes on a two-week break for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. said the House had to cut the budget since the deteriorating economic situation clearly indicated that the original amount had become unrealistic.

He said the reduction could have been bigger had not the majority prevailed upon the minority to keep it to the minimum. Opposition congressmen were proposing a reduction of as much as P20 billion.