I am very pleased to sign this today the General Appropriations Act for 1993, which appropriates funds for the operations of the government and other purposes from January 1 to December 31 this year.

I would like to thank the honorable senators and congressmen, especially Senate President Nepali Gonzales and Speaker Jose de Venecia and the house committee on appropriations headed by Congressman Rolando Andaya and the senate finance committee headed by Senator Edgardo Angara, assisted by Senator Ernesto Herrera, for their tireless efforts towards the enactment of this first national budget under my administration.

This General Appropriations Act of 1993, amounting to p309.4 billion, is the product of the joint and complementary efforts of Congress and the Presidency. Its expeditious enactment once more underscores the close coordination and highlights the improved cooperation between our two branches of government. The joint efforts of the executive and the legislative have shown that their separation of powers need not be a hindrance towards the formulation of legislative measures to expedite the work of governance and to achieve the goals of development.

The cooperation shown by the legislative has made possible a budget that we believe is an even more powerful tool than the one we submitted to Congress in August 1992 to carry out the economic growth initiatives that we intended for this year.

Capital spending will be at p55.1 billion, up by p3.2 billion or a 6.1% growth over our original proposal of P51.9 billion. This allocation will go to the construction of more expressways and bridges, telecommunications, public markets, school buildings, farm-to-market roads, seaports and airports, irrigation and flood control structures, and other infrastructure projects which will generate employment, provide needed services and spur economic activity countrywide. Equally prioritized are our energy and power development projects under various arrangements including build-operate-and-transfer schemes.

Spending for agriculture, trade and industry, environmental protection and other economic services has been increased by p1.4 billion from our proposal of p66.9 billion to p68.3 billion.

Provisions for the responsive handling of calamities now authorize allocation of funds for both natural and man-made calamities with an additional outlay of p600 million over the p1.0 billion requested in our original proposal. Health, education and other social services expenditures have been increased to p74.3 billion — p3.9 billion or 5.5 % over our proposed p70.4 billion — to enhance the quality of public education, increase our people’s access to public health services, and support a socialized housing program for the lower classes through a more liberalized credit and lending system.

The budget also provides some p10.3 billion to intensify our campaign against crime and promote peace and order, thus improving the business environment and encouraging the inflow of investments and tourism into our country.

I also note that congress has responded to our national defense and security concerns. In this regard, let me reiterate that our national defense policy in the post-Cold War era continues to hinge upon the reasonable and phased modernization of the armed forces of the Philippines to enable it to defend our borders against illegal entry, intrusion and illegal exploitation of our natural resources. This has been clearly supported by Senator Orlando Mercado, chairman of the Senate National Defense and Security Committee, who has manifested that the future should be geared more to protect our marine, mineral, forest and other resources within our territorial borders and its economic zone as well as to detect, prevent and deter air or surface intrusions and to support Philippine diplomacy that is aimed at preserving our national dignity, sovereignty and patrimony.

I have used my veto powers very sparingly and only to clarify the implementation of particular appropriation items as well as safeguard and preserve existing budgetary precepts. Accordingly, I have vetoed provisions that will unduly hamper government’s flexibility to respond adequately to unforeseen contingencies and urgent needs. I have also vetoed provisions which seek to authorize the use of agency incomes as well as the creation, operation and maintenance of revolving funds in accordance with the law.

This rests on a sound principle we follow in preparing the government’s financial plan for each fiscal year — which is that government must operate as much as possible within its means. As you are aware, all concerned agencies have been tasked to increase the income of government to enable it to implement critical programs and projects.

I am thus taking this opportunity to remind the honorable members of Congress about the urgency of the new revenue measures that are still pending with them.

The 1993 budget forms only half of our equation for growth, the other half being the new revenue measures that will support our expenditure program. All the plans and initiatives indicated in this budget measure that we have worked on together will not be fully realized if we are unable to generate the revenues to support them. That would be like hobbling along on just one foot in our long, arduous journey towards socio-economic development and sustained progress.

I trust that the productive collaboration Congress has shown in passing the general appropriations act will continue to be demonstrated towards the enactment of various revenue enhancement measures that have been proposed.

This initial expenditure program under my administration will be used as the primary growth instrument that I intend it to be, if we can generate the targeted revenues and if we use our resources wisely and efficiently.

I therefore also sound this call to our fellow workers in government: let us exercise greater judiciousness, prudence and effectiveness in implementing the budget and utilizing government resources. All officials and units must help the President and the Department of Budget and Management, which has played a laudable role in helping us formulate this Appropriations Act, in ensuring that government spending for 1993 does not adversely affect the state of the public sector deficit.

Certainly, it has not been possible to provide within this budget all that our various departments, local government units, sectoral groups and regional councils have been clamoring for. In keeping with available means, we have had to define and schedule our spending priorities. These have been arrived at in the light not of what will serve special interests, but of what will promote the good of the majority of our people and serve our country’s immediate and long-term interests.

Resource constraints notwithstanding, I am totally convinced that this first budget of my administration will be a powerful instrument for growth. To ensure that it will be so, I am convening an executive-legislative and private sector workshop on Saturday, January 9th, here in Malacañang to forge an action program to pump-prime the economy early on.

This government intends to do all within its power to move our country forward, to relentlessly pursue solutions to outstanding problems, to inject vigor, dynamism, and greater liberalization into the economy, and to bring our national family to work more closely together.

Let us use our talent, unity, creativity, initiative and industriousness to advance our beloved Philippines towards sustained growth.

Sa pagwawakas muli akong nagpapasalamat sa ating mga Kongresista at Senador na sumusuporta sa mga programa ng ating administrasyon, lalong-lalo na sa kanilang pagpapasabatas nitong General Appropriations Act.

Mabuhay ang ating Republika!!

Mabuhay tayong lahat!!