Breaking News: Duterte signs P3.757T 2019 Nat'l budget

Breaking News: Duterte signs P3.757T 2019 Nat'l budget

President Duterte has signed the proposed P3.757 trillion 2019 national budget, but vetoed a total of P95.3 billion items. Vetoed items include the P75 billion public works “insertions” applied by congressmen, Senate President Tito Sotto confirms. 

President Duterte signs 2019 budget

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday signed into law the proposed P3.7-trillion national budget, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said.

In a phone interview with ABS-CBN News, Sotto said Duterte also vetoed a total of P95.3 billion in the budget, based on information from the Office of the President.

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The vetoed items include the P75 billion insertions applied by congressmen covering public works projects, Sotto added.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea also confirmed Duterte signed the national budget.

The President’s signing of the bill ended an almost four-month delay that threatened the growth of the economy and affected some government services and projects.

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Duterte signed the bill after Sotto affixed his signature to the bill but expressed “strong reservations.”

Sotto had urged Duterte to veto "unconstitutional" provisions within the spending plan, including the alleged realignment of a P75-billion chunk of the proposal.

The amount was earlier questioned by House members as an alleged insertion by former Budget Secretary and now Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin Diokno into the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways, delaying deliberations.

Prior to signing of the budget, the government had operated on a reenacted 2018 budget since January.

- with reports from Sherrie Ann Torres and Joyce Balancio, ABS-CBN News