Allowing government to operate on a reenacted budget is not only bad and dangerous but is like giving away a blank check for Malacañang's election spree until the May, 2010 national elections.

This warning was aired Thursday by Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) and the policy research and advocacy group La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga).

In reaction to concerns raised by Senator Aquilino Pimentel that lawmakers will not be able to pass the national budget, SWP and La Liga officers called on lawmakers to step up the deliberations and shorten their plans for the holiday season if needed to enact the 2010 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

They also urged Congress to adopt the P25-billion alternative budget proposal of citizens and advocacy groups under the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI).

Briones said giving President Arroyo the opportunity to operate the government on a reenacted budget is bad and dangerous because it will allow disbursement of the entire budget of the government subject to her discretion. The country needs presidential discretion like a hole on the head, she stressed.

"As if the special purpose fund allocated for the President is not enough, Congress will be giving away the power of the purse which makes its misuse highly possible because election is just around the corner," Briones argued.

She warned that the government may again overspend the budget in aid of election of administration candidates.

Jonathan Ronquillo, La Liga environment campaigner, said lawmakers should cross party lines to pass a climate-sensitive 2010 budget and avoid a reenacted budget for 2010.

La Liga acts as the secretariat of the Environment Cluster of the ABI and is proposing an additional allocation of P11.4 billion to finance specific climate change mitigation and adaptation measures particularly strengthening the country's disaster management through risk reduction to better prepare the country from the worst impacts of climate change.

Ronquillo said considering the challenge posed by the impacts of global warning and climate change, financing initiatives anchored around renewable or sustainable energy systems, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, clean and green industrial technology and ecological waste management are of utmost importance.

Operating on a reenacted budget means that climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, like other important programs and projects for the protection, rehabilitation, and management of the country's environment and natural resources, will be set aside.

The group is also pushing for the restoration of the budget items on protected areas and national parks and the implementation of the Clean Water Act.

"Last year, some of the budget items for the environment sector were not even released by the government. If the government is as serious as its public projection in addressing climate change, it must provide fresh investments in critical initiatives for climate change and not reenact the budget. Otherwise, the heat of the election fever might just dry up whatever meager resources the government has allocated to the environment sector," Ronquillo said.