Marcos rejects three provisions in 2023 budget

Xave Gregorio - Philstar.com December 21, 2022 | 10:54am Release / Office of Speaker Martin Romualdez MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed three provisions in the 2023 national budget which he said are not related to the new appropriations and could amend other laws, according to Malacañang. Among the provisions Marcos rejected was the establishment of a revolving fund for the Department of Education’s TV-based instruction initiative DepEd TV.“There is no law authorizing the DepEd to establish a revolving fund for the purpose,” the Office of the Press Secretary said Wednesday in a release. It added: “DepEd TV is not a business-type activity of the DepEd, which may be considered within the contemplation of the General Provision on Revolving Funds in the [Fiscal Year] 2023 [General Appropriations Act], which permits the establishment of a revolving fund from receipts derived from business-type activities.” Marcos also vetoed a provision that would have barred the Department of Tourism from using its budget to change the country’s tourism slogan as it limits the executive branch from implementing Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009. The president also rejected a provision which would have allowed the National Labor Relations Commission to use its income for its operations, when existing laws do not allow this. Besides, Marcos said, the NLRC’s income already forms part of the revenue and financing sources of the proposed budget submitted by the executive to Congress. Last Friday, Marcos signed the budget bill into law, which he called a “fine Christmas gift” from Congress whom he hailed for quickly passing his administration’s first full-year outlay. “To see that the rapidity of the passage is significant because it means that this budget, the roadmap that we have proposed from the executive, is fully supported by our legislature,” Marcos said then.

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