Noy: Every item in 2014 budget carefully scrutinized

MANILA, Philippines - Every item in the proposed national budget for next year is being carefully scrutinized so it can be justified in Congress, President Aquino said yesterday.

“Recently, I have been busy finalizing the national budget, where we are laying out the priorities for next year, and even beyond. Every line must be thoroughly scrutinized before the entire document is submitted to Congress, and so finalizing the budget, as you can imagine, is a somewhat stressful task,” Aquino said in a speech before participants and delegates to the 8th Ambassadors, Consuls General and Tourism Directors Tour of the Philippines.

The same commitment was made by members of the minority bloc at the Senate belonging to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). The opposition senators said they would focus on the multi-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

The minority bloc came out with the stand after a meeting at the Coconut Palace, attended by former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, senators Jinggoy Estrada, JV Ejercito, and Nancy Binay.

Vice President Jejomar Binay was also present during the meeting where they strategized their plans for the upcoming 16th Congress.  

“We will scrutinize the proposed P 2.3-trillion budget,” Estrada said, but clarified that they would not block its passage. “We may differ with opinions in some of the issues but as much as possible, we will vote as a bloc.”

Estrada said he was not discounting the possibility that the government had used the CCT funds in the last poll campaign.

“We will be part of the constructive opposition, just what we declared during the last elections,” Sen. Binay said.

In separate interviews, Estrada and Binay said there is a need to determine whether the annual budget would benefit the majority of Filipinos.

“I think the President said they are working on a budget that will ensure inclusive growth. So we want to see whether there will really be a trickle down effect,” Sen. Binay said.

Binay said she is particularly interested in scrutinizing the budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which is headed by Secretary Manuel Roxas II who was a rival of her father in the 2010 senatorial race. But she stressed, “there is no political color here.”