Private Sector Urged To Participate In Budget Talks In Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (September 1, 2008) - Following the formal submission to Congress of the proposed P1.415-Trillion budget for 2009, Speaker Prospero Nograles urged the private sector to actively participate in the coming congressional deliberations on the national outlay to ensure that government spending will give more focus on food security, jobgeneration, health, environment protection, infrastructure, education,peace and order and social justice.

"We can hasten reforms in government only if both the private and thepublic sectors would join hands through positive and activeparticipation in a transparent government," Nograles said.
Nograles added that the national outlay should be optimized as thegovernment's main instrument in pump-priming the economy.

"We should keep our focus on these key areas of concern if we want to achieve a sustainable national growth. We have to increase our food production capacity to reduce our dependence on food imports, we have to generate more jobs and improve our human resource assets not only to uplift the lives of our people but also to jumpstart the economy and we have to keep our country safe to attract more investments,"Nograles said.

Nograles noted that under the proposed national budget for 2009, infrastructure spending would grow by P26.8 Billion or 22.2% (from P120.9 B in 2008 and P147.6 B in 2009). However, the Speaker expressed concern that this might not be enough to complement the country's infrastructure requirement to achieve economic sustainability.

"As a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), infra budget would only translate to 1.7% -- way below the regional average of 4% and World Bank prescription of at least 5% for a country's economy to become sustainable and attract more investments," he said.

The House Committee on Rules, chaired by Majority Leader Arthur Defensor of Iloilo, is expected to formally report out in plenary session next week the proposed 2009 General Appropriations Act for subsequent referral to the Committee on Appropriations chaired by Rep. Junie Cua of Quirino province.

"We will surely prioritize the national budget so plenary will refer it to the Appropriations Committee next week," Defensor said, adding that former chairman and now senior vice chairman Edcel Lagman of Albay would continue exercising his vital role in steering the voluminous budget documents through sub-committee public hearings until its final report goes to plenary for debate. "We will work hard to prevent a recurrence of a re-enacted budget," Defensor added.

Speaker Nograles recalled that non-government organizations and people's organizations from the different sectors of society have expressed their willingness to be heard on the many issues relative to the national budget and development programs of the government.

"This is the opportunity for them to be heard in the right congressional forum. They can always volunteer and let us know their concerns," Nograles said. (Romy Bwaga)