Bicam passes budget, transparency junked
By Angie M. Rosales 12/14/2010The Senate last night ratified the P1.645 trillion national budget for next year, with the two Houses of Congress among those receiving the biggest increases by as much as P935 million via budget insertions.
Opposition members in the bicameral committee com-plained of a lack of trans-parency, saying that the majority merely asked them to sign and pass the budget without any discussions among the bicam members.
The judiciary, which had been pressing for at least a P3 billion increase, has been appropriated with P13.6 billion which was the amount recommended by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Judges have been protesting the budget cut for the judiciary, saying that their allowances and pay since 2007 have not been paid as yet.
But their protests fell on Malacañang’s deaf ears.
“We again would emphasize that we have basically followed the President’s budget. This is the first budget of President Aquino and we are making this approval in the hope that the present administration would carry out the programs as outlined in their budget..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101214hed4.html
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