The Palace has to blink on the budget standoff with the House of Representatives in order to foreclose the adverse consequences of a reenacted budget on the Executive.
The reaction of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque that a reenacted budget favors the Executive is early sourgraping for a possible reenactment of the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA) consequent to the impasse on the adoption of a cash-based budgeting being pushed by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno but unanimously opposed by legislators.
No administration would welcome a reenacted budget because:
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A reenactment is a rebuke of the President who has submitted to the Congress his annual budget proposal as contained in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
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It would derail the administration’s ambitious “build, build and build” infrastructure program.
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Appropriations for capital outlay already implemented cannot be repeated and would have to be used for new projects subject to congressional oversight.
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The President’s restructuring of the reenacted budget is not absolute.
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The administration’s proposals on new projects and programs could not be implemented pending the reenactment of the GAA for 2019.
EDCEL C. LAGMAN