Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr. Tuesday accused the Arroyo administration of “deliberately delaying” its submission of the 2010 national budget to Congress so it could divert the funds for use of its bets in the May elections.

Pimentel said obviously a reenacted budget would be useful to Malacanang because it would be favorable to the administration since it will be virtually converted into a pork barrel that “they can play around with.”

“It’s not far-fetched that there will be a reenacted budget, 2010 will be an election year. A reenacted budget will be advantageous to the administration. With the budget transformed into a virtual presidential pork barrel, the President will have the discretion to transfer funds where she want it. Most likely funds will be siphoned off to election campaign of administration candidates,” he said.

Pimentel warned of a repetition of what happened in 2004 when billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money were diverted to projects with partisan political purposes during the months preceding the presidential elections.

One example, he pointed out, was the P728 million worth of fertilizer funds which then Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante reportedly diverted to the campaign kitty of President Arroyo.

Pimentel further criticized Malacanang for its refusal to heed the appeal of members of Congress to fast track the submission of the budget due to the possibility of time constraints that would be aggravated by the start of the election campaign.

He recalled that President Arroyo stated she would transmit the 2010 general appropriations bill to Congress on Aug. 27—30 days after the opening of the regular session of Congress.

Pimentel said: “This means that Congress will only have three months to discuss the budget before the Nov. 30 deadline for the filing of candidacies and the start of the election campaign.”

He noted Congress would have a three-week recess after the House approves the budget bill by mid-October.

The solution, he said, Malacanang should submit the budget bill to the Senate and House at the same time to enable both chambers to conduct simultaneous budget hearings.

As such, the Senate need not wait for the House’s approval of the budget before the Senate starts deliberating on the measure.