INTRODUCTION
Let me begin by wishing all of you the best for 1996. Today — with these new measures I am signing into law — we have even more reason to be hopeful about the new year.

These are measures designed to promote the best of our new year intentions — peace, economic growth, social reform and the continuity of our worthiest efforts, from this year to the next and beyond.

Foremost among these bills is the General Appropriations Act (GAA), which assures the continuity of government operations into 1996. I am glad that we have found the vision, the will and the harmony to craft this vital piece of legislation — without having to undergo the kind of partial paralysis we are witnessing in one or two countries.

And so, I am happy to sign, today, Republic Act No. 8174, the General Appropriations Act for 1996, appropriating p394.8 billion for the government in 1996.

The 1996 national budget will remain our primary fiscal instrument to sustain our economic growth, to fight poverty and to enlarge our national capacity to meet, head-on, the demands of people empowerment and global competition.
SOUND ECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS
Judging from the economic fundamentals we have put in place, it is clear that the growth rates we have achieved — of 2.6 percent in 1993, 5.1 percent in 1994 and higher in 1995 — were no accidents in our economic history.

They were achieved largely through sound policy and structural reforms, whose beneficial effects will continue to show themselves in the years ahead. The private sector, as our partner in development, has responded positively to this healthier environment of socio-economic policies.

Thus, we are confident that, despite recent temporary difficulties and setbacks, we will achieve the growth target of at least 6.0 percent that we have set for 1995.

For 1996, we will strive to hit a GNP growth rate of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent through active promotion of trade and investment in both the domestic and foreign sectors, and the continued pursuit of reforms, not the least of which are those in our fiscal system to promote greater prudence in the management of public finance.
We will keep our finances in the black in 1996 for the third straight year. We intend not only to post a surplus of about p17.5 billion for the national government or 0.8 percent of GNP, but also to strike a balanced consolidated public sector financial position.
ZERO DEFICIT — TWO YEARS EARLY
Thereby, we should achieve by end 1996 — or two years early — the zero public sector deficit that we originally planned to attain by 1998.

Two factors are important for generating national savings — lower interest expense and reduced debt stock. Ultimately, the surplus will lead to lower interest and inflation rates, and consequently, a more hospitable environment for business, investments and tourism, the expansion of employment and livelihood opportunities, and the increase of individual and family incomes.

To achieve our fiscal targets for 1996, we will pursue with greater intensity the strategies that we employed during the first half of my term. We will maintain prudence in government spending and enhance revenue collection efficiency. Expected improvements in tax collection should raise our tax effort from the 1995 level of 15.8 percent to 16.2 percent in 1996 and thereby bring us closer to the ASEAN average of 18.0 percent.

We will seek to reduce the outstanding debt of the national government even further, and channel precious funds to investment-inducing expenditures.

To be sure, however, the executive branch cannot do it alone. To achieve our fiscal targets and continue reforms that we have initiated in the management of government expenditures, we need the solid support of both chambers of Congress.
TWO COROLLARY MEASURES
As I sign this 1996 General Appropriations Act, I call on our esteemed partners in congress to expedite the passage of two legislative measures that should accompany this budget law, and without which our fiscal program for 1996 will surely be jeopardized.

These are, first, the bill on the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package, which will simplify and make our tax system more progressive, transparent, equitable and generally people-friendly.

The second, the bill on the re-engineering of the bureaucracy, should minimize if not eliminate red tape and top-heaviness in the bureaucracy as well as rationalize the focus, scope and functions of the government machinery. I earnestly request the leaders and members of congress to attend to these two important concerns with the same zeal and dispatch that they accorded the 1996 budget measure.

Through the able efforts of the Senate and the House of Representatives, especially House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rolando Andaya and his staff and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ernesto Maceda and his staff, the 1996 national budget has become a genuine symbol of the cooperative work of the executive branch and the legislature.

The GAA proposals have been transformed into a budget intended not only to maintain our growth momentum, as I stressed in my 1996 budget message conveyed in July 1995, but also into one that truly goes to the heart of the government’s social reform agenda, which at bottom-line is our strategic plan in our war against poverty and our collective commitment to be pro-poor and pro-progress.

I note with appreciation that the budget for social services has been raised even more to p135.8 billion from p128.8 billion in my original budget proposal.

To all of you of the two houses of congress, my deep gratitude and that of our people.

Nonetheless, I am compelled to exercise my veto powers, albeit sparingly, to ensure that the principles of sound budget and fiscal management continue to be observed and safeguarded.

I have directly vetoed seven separate items in the budget measure which I consider not in keeping with existing policies and laws. These are in a separate veto message I have addressed today to the Speaker of the House and the Senate President.

Outside of these vetoed items, I have found the budget to have been well-crafted and truly reflective of our common concerns.
APPRECIATION FOR THE BUDGET MAKERS
I also commend the officials and staff of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) who, I know, spent countless sleepless nights in preparing the 1996 budget proposal so that it could be submitted one month early, and in assisting Congress all the way during the budget deliberations. To them and the other technicians like them — the unsung and unseen heroes of our government, who work quietly but assiduously in the background — maraming salamat!

Finally, now that the 1996 national budget has become law, I enjoin our co-workers in government — in the three branches and at all levels — to be judicious and prudent in the utilization of government funds.

Let us remember that every peso we spend must be a cost-effective investment in the future of young Filipinos and those yet unborn, in insuring better options and larger opportunities for all of them.

Every peso lost to waste or to corruption is another burden imposed on another Filipino down the line. On the other hand, every peso wisely spent could mean five pesos or even more value in terms of increasing the empowerment of our people and our national capacity to compete successfully in the world.
CROP INSURANCE
Speaking of investments, I now draw your attention to another measure I am signing today, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) Bill.

Designed to provide muscle and reach to a fifteen-year-old program whose growth had been stunted by sheer lack of capital and capacity, this new law (RA 8175) seeks to protect the farmers’ investments in production against the uncontrollable and periodic ravages of nature.

It ensures the unhampered flow of credit where it is needed most — the countryside — enabling, in turn, the continuous efficient production of food and other products vital to our economy.

Agricultural lending has always been a risky enterprise — but the costs of not providing adequate credit support to this sector can only be greater than the risks. Relief efforts in times of calamity can only do so much, for a limited time. Enlarged crop insurance promises to achieve much more, towards gaining better stability and peace of mind in an enterprise always susceptible to the vagaries of nature.

As a piece of social legislation as well as an economic safety net, the crop insurance bill cushions the impact of the GATT on our agricultural economy and eases the transition of our entry into the world trade organization.
THE ARMM ELECTIONS
Lastly, I also signed a bill to postpone elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), originally scheduled for March 4 of next year.

There are at least two very good reasons for this move.

First, we need to provide sufficient lead time for the acquisition, testing and installation of the automated and computerized system to be used in future national, regional and local elections.

Second, we also need more time for the dissemination of information materials to the ARMM voters on the changes being introduced in existing voting, counting and canvassing procedures by the computerized election system.

Beyond dissemination, however, there is the long-term need for the re-orientation and eventual enculturation of the voters, the probable candidates, the participating political parties, the election workers and the public at large on this new modern system which is supposed to insure the non-interference of the dirty hands and evil minds of selfish interests.

There is actually a third reason for us to accede to this request for a postponement: and that is, to give some regularity, constancy and stability to elections and politics in the region, which have previously been determined by the lunar calendar.

With a schedule no longer dependent on the coming and passing of the holy Muslim month of Ramadhan, Congress has provided a fixed date for the elections, and thereby, the ARMM electorate can expect their elected officials to serve for a fixed term of office.

The significance of the forthcoming ARMM elections cannot be overemphasized. Under existing RA No. 8046, the Autonomous Region shall be the laboratory for an electoral experiment of far-reaching implications. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) shall pilot-test in said elections a computerized election system that will change most of our existing voting, counting and canvassing procedures.

In turn, the outcome of the ARMM experiment will certainly to affect, for the better, future elections on a nationwide basis.

This is a sensitive, intricate and expensive process that we cannot afford to mishandle, for the sake of our democracy itself. We must maintain the utmost transparency about this exercise, to prove that it can and will work.

We are prepared to invest funds for electoral modernization but this is not just for hardware. More importantly, we are utilizing these funds effectively for the essential software in terms of procedures, systems, training, education, enculturation and overall people’s behavior, mind-set and perspectives — so that things are done properly.

Postponing the ARMM elections will give us the time we need — to bring more and more Filipinos, and the electoral process itself, into the circle of modernization.
CLOSING
Once again, let me express the hope that the beneficial effects of these measures will brighten the coming year for all of us.

In an important sense, they are investments not only in the next year, but in the quality of our future for many more years to come.

If we are to have enduring peace, sustained prosperity, and social equity — if all are to grow, and to share in the fruits of growth — we must prepare the ground now.

That is what we have done through these vital measures, and I thank you all for your support and your cooperation.

Salamat sa inyong lahat!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!!!