Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. is mistaken when he accused Malacañang of deliberately delaying the approval of the 2008 General Appropriations Act (GAA) even as it is publicly known that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to sign tomorrow, 11 March 2008, the annual budget law.

Only 12 days have elapsed since the enrolled bill on the national budget was received by Malacañang on 27 February 2008 after it was signed by Senate President Manuel Villar on 26 February 2008, six days after Speaker Prospero Norgales signed the budget bill on 20 February 2008, which was transmitted to the Senate on the same day.

While the bicameral conference committee report recommending approval of the reconciled General Appropriations Bill (House Bill No. 2454) was ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives on 28 January 2008, it took two weeks for the House technical staff of the Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Legislative Budget Research Monitoring Office to meticulously input the approved amendments and validate the myriad of figures.

The final draft of the proposed GAA was sent to APO-NEDA for printing on 12 February 2008 which finished printing copies for enrollment on 19 February 2008.

Under the Constitution, the President has 30 days to approve or veto a bill after its submission to Malacañang, which period in the case of the GAA for 2008 will expire on 28 March 2008 yet.

The reason for the 30-day period is to afford the President adequate time to study an enrolled bill before she approves or vetoes it, or allows it to lapse into law without her signature.

It stands to reason that the Office of the President in coordination with the Department of Budget and Management should be given sufficient time and latitude in assessing the voluminous budget bill consisting of 1,197 pages and appropriating P1,226,700,000.00, the biggest national budget ever passed by Congress.

Sen. Pimentel was also errant in imputing sinister motives to Malacañang in releasing funds under the reenacted budget of 2007.

The automatic mechanism of a reenacted budget is precisely ordained by the Constitution in order not to paralyze the operations of government and to expedite the implementation of priority programs and projects pending the enactment of a new budget law.