As for the budget allocation for the ₱1 million bounty for heinous crime convicts who refuse to surrender, Salceda said it could be added as an amendment by the executive branch.
“At any point during the budget, there are processes that the executive may propose amendments,” Salceda said.
With around 1,300 convicts having yet to turn themselves in, the budget allocation for reward money is estimated at ₱1.3 billion.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 18) — President Rodrigo Duterte has certified as urgent the passage of next year’s budget.
Duterte, on letters dated September 17, told Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano that he wanted the general appropriations bill to passed immediately.
The House of Representatives will approve the proposed ₱4.1-trillion 2020 national budget on Friday.
House committee on appropriations vice chairman Joey Salceda, in a media briefing Wednesday, said they would pass their version of the budget bill on September 20.
He added that this would be the “earliest approved budget at the House in history.”
The House introduced amendments for the departments of education and health, and for the military.
READ: Cayetano seeks 2020 budget realigment to increase funds for health, education
“Only three and they’re not billions,” Salceda said, adding that the amendments would be for the repair of classrooms and military camps.
He said the proposed budget has no pork barrel and illegal insertions, issues that stalled the 2019 budget.
“As defined by the Supreme Court, there’s none,” Salceda said.
He explained that each lawmaker had a ₱100-million allocation for local projects, but these were already in the budget proposed by the Department of Budget and Management.
