Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
It’s official, the Senate will not be able to approve the 20019 budget before the year-end and the government may have to operate under a reenacted budget until the first week of February next year.
In an all-senator caucus on Monday, the Senate agreed on a tentative schedule for the approval of next year’s budget.
A copy of the schedule released to the media by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri showed that the Senate would adjourn its session on December 14 without passing the budget even on second reading.
The Senate has already received the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) from the House of Representatives.
But the upper chamber, based on the schedule, could only start its plenary debates on the GAB between December 5 and 12.
Congress will go on Christmas break on December 14 and will resume on January 14, 2019.
The Senate only eyes the approval of the budget on second and third reading by January 16.
The schedule for the bicameral conference committee was between January 10 and 23 and the signing of the bicam report is expected on January 19.
Zubiri said both the Senate and the House are expected to ratify the budget bill on the same date, January 29.
The target ratification date will fall on Senator Loren Legarda’s birthday, he said.
Legarda is chair of the Senate committee on finance.
By February 7, President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to sign the budget bill./ac