Congress ratifies P2.6T budget for 2015

MANILA, Philippines (Updated) – The Senate and the House of Representatives on Monday, December 15, ratified the P2.606-trillion government budget for 2015 after making adjustments to the definition of savings and making last-minute adjustments mostly in the unprogrammed funds.

It’s the last week of session before Congress takes the holiday break. 

Under the Aquino administration, Congress has consistently passed the budget on time, which prevents the complications of having re-enacted budgets for which past administrations were notorious for. 

The 2015 budget was framed based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Malacañang spending program, the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which limited the powers of the President over the purse. 

In response, Congress redefined “savings” to return some of the leeway enjoyed by the executive branch. 

Congress also adopted Malacañang’s proposal to realign a total of P72.542 billion, mostly in the unprogrammed funds. These are items that may only be funded if revenue collection exceeds targets. 

Congress removed funding for the buyout of the Metro Rail Transit-3 to fund other items, including rehabilitation efforts in disaster-stricken provinces. – Rappler.com