The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Mario Ponce, said the budget project presented by the government was “configured not to be approved, and if it did, the House would have declared it unconstitutional.”
He Chairman of the Legislative Assembly, Mario Ponce He said in a television interview that the executive branch had set a trap for the delegates with the budget bill because it was unconstitutional by approving it as it was proposed.
By not approving it, the delegates would also face problems, as they would be blamed for not providing the funds for education and health care in addition to other commitments such as veterans.
He added that the delegates were willing to approve the budget before the end of the year and that they had not gone on vacation, as the government’s Spotify advertisement says.
“This government has these characteristics, the characteristics of misinforming the population, as the population falls into the mistake of believing them, the truth is that the Assembly was open, it was ready on December 25, if possible on 26. December, sessions can be held December 31st is possible, ”said Ponce.
He noted that one of the unconstitutions of the budget was that it did not consider the 6% that corresponded by law to the judicial branch needing $ 51 million, and also stressed that the Fodes did not go to the municipalities, which is not a gift for the mayors, but a legal commitment.
Also read: Bukele will approve only part of the decrees approved by the General Assembly for the 2021 budget
“The budget as it was structured was unconstitutional, the amount from the Fodes did not come, and the fact is that the mayors are not a gift from this Executive or from an Executive of the future or the past, the Fodes are constitutional,” said Ponce. .
He clarified that the delegates in the country are alert to an emergency and that for this reason he left the regular plenary meeting of 144 open to any call.
He also said they should see what actions President Nayib Bukele will take in relation to the 11 decrees he has received, whether they will be sanctioned, vetoed, or with comments to study the actions to be taken by the Assembly. executed.
Ponce pointed out that the 2021 budget project was also designed to make non-governmental organizations that should be funded by the state invisible as they carry out works that benefit vulnerable groups in society, such as the Fundación Ayúdame a Vivir , which treats children with cancer Fundación Padre Arrupe or the Cancer Institute, among others.
They don’t go more than $ 300 for mayors
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Mario Ponce, also clarified that there is no additional $ 366 million in the municipal budget, as the government says in the TV commercial.
He said it is a lie that so much money goes to the mayors, but that the municipalities do need money for social work aimed at preventing violence, such as the construction of recreation areas to reduce crime in populated areas.
“It’s that you don’t just have to teach them the stick when crime increases, in certain populations you have to build sports venues to go into the prevention section, so that kids are in the throes of crime,” Ponce said.
In addition, the meeting approves the budget for 2021 with an increase in the minimum pension to $ 304 per month
The Presidency of the Assembly is not for getting rich
The Speaker of the Assembly also insisted that he has fairly headed the Salvadoran parliament, as that position is not intended to enrich himself.
It found an assembly renting buildings in high-value areas at a cost of $ 840,000, in addition to 60 workers who were illegally hired, in the management of Deputy Guillermo Gallegos, from GANA when he chaired the Legislative Assembly.
“The strength we have is to approve the budget with discounts,” said Zelaya in the Frente a Frente interview.
Executive proposal was ‘unfeasible’
Ponce’s statements come after lawmakers approved the 2021 Budget project in the early hours of the morning on Dec. 24, with some realignments that allow it to cut spending, orient them on underfunded items and the budget deficit to reduce.
“Health, safety and education did not touch each other,” Ponce added on Monday.
“My term at the head of the legislature is in line with the 2020 approval, which was complicated, and with 2021, which was configured not to be approved, and if it were done the chamber would have it unconstitutional declared, ”he stated.
From $ 1,342.2 million considered in the draft budget presented by the government, delegates reduced the budget deficit to $ 159 million. Within the approved project, the delegates also set up to ban ad honorem places in 2021. It also includes one pension increase from $ 204 to $ 304 per month.
For analysts and politicians, the Executive’s proposal was not viable as it takes into account an income that the Treasury will not receive due to the recession that entered the country due to the shutdown of the economy due to the Covid-19 quarantine .
The National Foundation for Development (Funde) stated that the estimate made by the government on the tax revenue that you have in 2021 it was unrealistic and perceived and thought to be an overestimation in the collection between $ 647 million and $ 714.1 million when the economy is in recession.
Bukele, for his part, has warned that he will only sanction some of the approved decrees and will veto others that contain modifications to items. The president of the republic announced this on social media on Sunday. He announced that he will endorse the pension increase proposed through an agreement between the ARENA, FMLN and PDC parties.