Mar Roxas on 2019 budget delay: 'Walang excuse para sa kapalpakan na ito. Budget delayed is government services denied'.
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| Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas / photo from Philstar |
Manila, Philippines – The Duterte administration’s failure to pass the 2019 national budget on time, according to former DILG secretary Mar Roxas, may trigger an adverse domino effect that could eventually hurt the Philippine economy.
Roxas warns the government about the sense of worries among the business community on the country’s economic road map.
A bad timing
He noted that the failure to pass the national budget is sending a wrong message even to the country’s foreign investors, also calling it bad timing since the non-passage of the budget came at the time when the business sector is still reeling from the effects of the high inflation rate in the past months.
“Hindi makontrol ang inflation, hindi malinaw ang tax ng mga investors, ngayon hindi makapagpasa ng budget. This added sense of uncertainty will only add to the worries of foreign investors, credit rating agencies, and fund managers,”Roxas, the former presidential candidate of the Liberal Party said.
“I’m worried that this climate of uncertainty threatens the resurgence of our manufacturing industry, threatens the progress we’ve had with our credit rating, and will ultimately lead to higher interest rates, less investments and fewer jobs,” he added.
Since the national budget for 2019 has not yet been passed, the government will have to use the 2018 national budget in the first few months of next year.
Limited to zero new projects
The national budget for 2019 is also being chased by controversies, following the accusations of multi-billion peso budget insertions and alleged revival of pork barrel for congressmen and senators.*
The former Interior and Local government chief emphasized that it is the Filipino people who end up as the sore losers because of late passage of the 2019 national budget.
Roxas added that the use of the old budget (being the result of the government’s failure to approve the 2019 budget) means there will be limited to zero new projects for the first few months of 2019.
Failure to help the struggling Filipinos
He stressed that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte had six months to help the struggling Filipinos but it failed.
“Government had six months to pass a budget that would help our fellow Filipinos as they struggle with problems of traffic, inflation, and joblessness. It failed,” Roxas said
“Walang excuse para sa kapalpakan na ito. Budget delayed is government services denied,” he added
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| Mar Roxas also filed candidacy for 2019 elections / photo via Rappler |
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