Andaya rejects realigning budget cut

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya rejected the proposal yesterday of Sen. Ralph Recto to realign the P64 billion which the Senate had cut from this year’s P1.053-trillion proposed national budget.

On Wednesday, Recto, Senate committee on ways and means chairman, proposed that the Senate restore the P64 billion, including funds allocated for two new initiatives of President Arroyo, but realign the money to other provisions.

Andaya said as a legislative matter, any compromise on the budget is the business of the House and Senate, though he was heartened by Recto’s call to restore the P64 billion cut from the budget.

"Although Senator Recto is just one voice in the 23-man chorus that is the Senate, we hope that his is the dominant view in the chamber when it comes to budget reconciliation," he said.

"Our position remains clear: the budget is a tightly-knit fabric whose strength depends on the link of every single thread to each other. You remove one thread and the whole thing would unravel."

Andaya said programs like the Kilos Asenso and Kalayaan Barangay, which are about local empowerment, are key elements of the budget, and insisted that they be retained.

He was referring to President Arroyo’s two new initiatives for local governments worth more than P8 billion that would fund infrastructure projects and livelihood programs, with local governments supplying counterpart funds.

Senators, however, see Kilos Asenso and Kalayaan Barangay programs as Mrs. Arroyo’s pork barrel.

Andaya’s stand reflected Malacañang’s hard-line position as far as the 2006 budget is concerned.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier said she was likely to veto any "mangled" budget.