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Target ng mga senador na maipasa sa tanggapan ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte kalagitnaan ng Disyembre ang P4.1-trillion na panukalang national budget para sa taong 2020.

Sa isang pahayag, sinabi ni Senate Committee on Finance chairman Sen. Juan Sonny Angara, sisimulan na sa Lunes, Nobyembre 11 ang mga debate sa plenaryo.

“(T)he Senate is on track to pass the budget measure based on a timetable that would have the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on the desk of the President by mid-December or the third week at the latest,” saad sa pahayag.

Una nang sinabi ni Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri na magsasagawa ng marathon hearings ang Senate Finance Committee ukol sa paksa upang maulit ang nangyaring delay sa budget ngayong taon.

Magugunitang pinirmahan lamang ni Pangulong Duterte ang P3.757-trillion national budget ngayong taon nito lamang Abril 15, ngunit na-veto ang P95-bilyong alokasyon na hindi umano bahagi ng priority projects ng Punong Ehekutibo.

Itinuro naman ito ng gobyerno bilang rason sa pagbagal ng paglago ng ekonomiya kung saan nakapagtala ng 5.6% sa unang tatlong buwan ng 2019, na pinakamababa sa loob ng apat na taon.

“So critical is the GAA, in fact, that because we failed to pass it on time during the previous budget cycle, the country paid a price,” wika ni Angara.

“One adverse impact was a slower GDP growth rate in the first half of the year. Another was that construction and repairs of thousands of classrooms were delayed, as were tuition fees of thousands of government scholars across the country,” dagdag nito.