INTRODUCTION
Today, I am pleased to sign into law the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 1995 or Republic Act 7845, which appropriates funds for the operations of the government and other purposes from January 1 to December 31, 1995.

I am also signing into law four other important measures designed to raise the quality of life of our people, by enhancing their physical and mental well-being.

But it is our budget that I take special pride in approving, because its crafting and its passage reflect the fact that we, as a government and as a people, have matured to our political and economic responsibilities.

The 1995 budget is a testament to what can be achieved through multi-partisan cooperation between the executive and the legislature, given a firm idea of — and a solid commitment to — our national objectives.

If the first two years of budget legislation under my administration were fraught with difficulties, this year’s budget proves the necessity and the greater virtues of legislative-executive cooperation.

If we set our minds to providing — sensibly and equitably — for the needs of our common future, we can rise above passing and petty political concerns.

I believe that this budget serves that purpose well. And as an indication of my confidence in its general objectives and provisions, I have used the presidential veto sparingly, to emphasize our priorities even more strongly.

And so may I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the honorable senators and congressmen, especially Senate President Edgardo Angara and House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Chairman Neptali Gonzales of the Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Rolando Andaya of the House Committee on Appropriations, and the members of the Bicameral Conference Committee as well as the technical staffs for their unrelenting support for the early enactment of the 1995 national budget.
A LANDMARK YEAR
The noteworthy cooperation between the executive and legislative branches should herald even more significant improvements in our economy next year.

Judging from our strong economic performance this year, 1995 promises to be a landmark year in our accelerated drive to attain newly-industrializing country (NIC) status.

We expect our economy to grow by at least 6 to 6.5%, the highest in the last five years and considered with confidence — even by our creditors — as a target that we can attain.

National elections, the highest and most visible expression of a truly working democracy, will be held in May, underscoring the fact that Southeast Asian economies can turn around and in fact surge forward within a democratic framework.

This week’s issue of Asiaweek (dec 21-28, 1994), in assessing the economies of the many countries of the Asia-Pacific region, summarizes the Philippine situation as follows:

“The year’s biggest turnaround story is the Philippines. The lights were switched back on — and the economy brightened up. The president got a governing coalition together and talked peace with Maoist, Muslim and military rebels. He opened the phone, banking and power sectors, pared tariffs further and sped up investment processing. The year’s estimated GDP growth, around 5.5%, tops even the most optimistic forecasts.

The influx of money has pushed up the Peso’s value by about 15%. That has squeezed exporters, but allowed Manila to make a principal payment on foreign debt for the first time in over a decade. The outlook has never been better in recent history.”

The same Asiaweek article quotes Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, a recent Manila guest: “the Philippines is on the right track. And all that while playing democracy.”
A PRUDENT BUDGET
Even as we are buoyed by the confidence of the international community in our capacity for economic management and political collaboration, we continue to maintain a fiscal policy of prudence and discipline.

We have nothing to waste, nor to lavish on needless expenditure.

Thus, the national budget for 1995 will amount to p382.2 billion, only 2.24% more than that for 1994.

More telling than the small increase, we are holding the reins tightly on maintenance expenditures, particularly personnel spending.

Consistent with the attrition law, personal services requirements in 1995 have been maintained at their 1994 levels.

Other noteworthy provisions in the budget are the following:

* Some p32 billion in GATT-related adjustment measures consisting mostly of infrastructure projects, as well as training and skills upgrading programs to help our workers cope with the effects of the new world trade order.

* Some p17 billion for programs that will directly benefit the marginalized sectors of our society in terms of agrarian reform services, socialized housing programs, credit and livelihood support, and institution building.

* Some p13 billion to provide for salary increases of p1,000 a month for our government workers, beginning January 1st, to keep government wages apace with those in the private sector.

* The third-year requirements for the implementation of the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers has also been provided for with p400 million from the budget of the Department of Health, p100 million from the Compensation and Adjustment Fund (COAF) for other health personnel and p331 million in allocations to local government units or a total of p831 million for devolved health personnel.

* Fringe benefits, such as clothing allowances, have also been adjusted from p1,300 to p1,500 per annum and hazard pay from a range of p100-p300 to p300-p500.

* Doubling of the support for road maintenance from the 1994 rate of p33,500 per equivalent maintenance kilometer (EMK) to p62,463 per EMK in 1995 covering more than 26,000 kms. Of national roads.

* Provision of the highest budgetary allocation of p52.3 billion to education, consistent with the mandate of our constitution.

* Appropriation of p1.2 billion for the initial implementation of the upgrading of veterans’ benefits. We can do no less for those who fought to secure our freedom, and we will be looking for ways by which we can give more.

* Increase of national assistance to local government units by 11% to support the implementation of the Local Government Code.
PRESIDENTIAL VETO
If its speedy passage of the 1995 expenditure measure is a manifestation from congress of its much-improved work relationship with the executive branch, the sparing use of the presidential veto is the executive’s counterpart affirmation of the enhanced collaboration between our two branches of government signalling a better harmonized developmental — not adversarial — approach to the attainment of our people’s welfare.

As I have said in my veto message sent separately to congress, no item would have been directly vetoed were it not for a question of constitutional integrity.

In the matter of appropriations for the payment of public debt, whether foreign or domestic, existing laws affirmed by jurisprudence mandate that the same are deemed automatically appropriated and therefore render unnecessary and invalid the appropriations for debt service that Congress has included in the 1995 budget.

I also wish to assure Congress that, in recognition of their noble intentions behind certain special provisions that it has proposed for some departments, the presidential veto will not be applied to these provisions.

However, such provisions should be enforced subject to the guidelines, rules and regulations that i am issuing to harmonize their implementation with existing policies.

All things considered, this final budget document is one we can all be proud of having put together, and again I congratulate everyone who helped to make it possible.
THE IMMUNIZATION BILL
I have also signed into law other measures providing for specific means of improving the Filipino’s quality of life.

The first of these is R.A. 7846, requiring compulsory immunization against hepatitis-B for infants and children below 8 years old. Hepatitis-b is a blood-borne infection which can cause liver cancer, and an infected mother can transmit it to her baby during childbirth.

This bill attends to an affliction that is fast becoming a major health problem in the Philippines, affecting about 12% of all Filipinos. This law will expand the coverage of that protection, to include all children below 8 years old.

It is, therefore, an investment in the good health of the 21st century Filipino.
A BEACON FOR ASIA
I am also pleased to sign into law R.A. 7847, granting the Philippine Radio Educational and Information Center a franchise to operate and maintain, for nonprofit purposes, radio and television stations in the Philippines.

This bill allows Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) — a revered friend of the Filipino nation — to continue its radio apostolate to the Philippines and Asia for many more years.

It reaffirms the long and productive cooperation between the Philippine government and the Catholic Church in promoting the social and spiritual well-being of the common people.

Seeking to be part of the whole development process in the region, RVA programs propose concepts aimed to improve the quality of human life. The Filipino people — here and abroad — benefit from the broadcast services of this international institution.

This makes a fitting present for his holiness, John Paul II, on the occasion of his forthcoming visit. It manifests our government’s support for RVA’s mission, following that biblical injunction of “not keeping its light under a bushel”.

With this act, that light will serve as a beacon for Asia, from the Philippines.
EXPANDING QUALITY EDUCATION
Two new laws pursue our commitment to expanding our people’s access to quality basic education.

It is more than symbolic that these bills are being signed today when we also do honor to the memory of Jose Rizal who, more than any other Filipino, saw education as the best and the most basic means for our political and economic emancipation.

By establishing the Guimba National High School in Poblacion, Guimba, Nueva Ecija through Republic Act 7848, we are ensuring that our schoolchildren in Nueva Ecija, as elsewhere, will have free secondary education in their own national high schools.

This is an opportunity for them to acquire lifelong learning skills in preparation for employment or for higher education.

In the same spirit, R.A. 7849 converts the Buguias-Loo Agro-industrial School into the Buguias-Loo Polytechnic College in the Municipality of Buguias, Province of Benguet.

This law also improves the access of Filipinos in the remote areas of the cordilleras to better education. This school’s conversion into a college raises its academic status and the quality and range of its offerings.

For the people of the Cordilleras, in particular, there is an urgent need to promote development by educating the people where they are, by bringing education to them in response to concrete local realities and opportunities.

Thus, I hope that the leaders and planners of the new polytechnic will focus on a balanced agri-industrial development program as their single most important mission and leave the “soft” white collar academic courses to the already established state colleges and universities in northern Luzon.

This will further support the policy of purposive stratification of chartered and non-chartered colleges for more efficient and effective operations.
PROVIDING FOR THE FUTURE
All these measures, as well as the national budget I have just signed into law, should help prepare the nation more strongly for a future of challenge and opportunity.

We seek to build a new generation of able-bodied, able-minded and productive Filipinos who can successfully compete with the best of the world.

We began that task two years ago, and today we have reaffirmed our commitment to making it happen.

Winning the future means providing for it as well — materially, intellectually, and morally.

In this national budget, we express our unity of purpose, our strategic teamwork, and our political will to succeed as a nation, beyond ourselves and our time, into the 21st century.

Still, other urgent tasks and priorities remain for us to face in the immediate future.

When Congress resumes session next month, it will have only 16 session days remaining to consider priority legislation still left undone.

These measures include those having to do with electoral, social and economic reforms as well as some GATT-related adjustments. These bills are vital to our economic health, people empowerment, and social well-being, and they cannot be held back for long.

These important bills include, among others, those on the sustainable development and the protection of our forests; the modernization of our armed forces; the expansion of the coverage of the Social Security Law; the reorganization of our bureaucracy; and as important as any others — the various measures certified for immediate enactment to improve our electoral system.

I am aware that these bills are making progress through the legislature, but I am also aware that many significant measures are deadlocked in various bicameral conference committees.
CLOSING
I hope that we find the same spirit of statesmanship and collaboration that enabled the enactment of the 1995 budget in record time to prevail when Congress resumes its session.

Let us always keep our national priorities above the normal traffic of partisan politics — let us continue to build flyovers that will accelerate our momentum into the future.

May we all continue to join hands and work together so that, at a time that has been described as the Asian century, our country can gain its rightful place among the most vibrant economies and democratic societies in this part of the world.

A prosperous and peaceful New Year to all!!!

Thank you.