House Majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. commended Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for pursuing reforms in the budget system, particularly the shift to an annual cash-based budget, during a live television interview on August 30, 2018.

This is to shed light on the recent confusion regarding the status of the proposed 2019 National Budget, as news arose on an apparent compromise of the Congress and DBM, thereby leading to a “hybrid” budgeting system.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno was quick to clarify that the agreement is not a “hybrid” budgeting system, but a transitory one, where the cash-based system’s Extended Payment Period (EPP) is extended from three months to six months for infrastructure projects. The modified system implies that there would now be 12 months to obligate and 18 months to disburse.

Simply put, the President’s budget will remain to be under a cash-based system.

For his part, Cong. Andaya expressed that the agreement was reached due to concerns raised by congressmen, given that 2019 is an election year, with an imminent three-month election ban. Nonetheless, Andaya maintained that the cash-based budget is indeed beneficial to our development prospects, and would make the budget more predictable.

“We are trying to reform our budget system, in fact it is our mission to make it one of the top 10 budget [systems] in the world. We are doing all this for the people,” Sec. Diokno noted.

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