THE House minority wants to slash P200 billion from the P1.145 trillion proposed national budget for 2009 saying the "pork" and "fat" might only be used in preparation by the party in power for the national election in 2010.

House minority leader Ronaldo Zamora (San Juan) said a "slim" budget would be appropriate given the global financial crisis caused by the credit crunch in the United States.

He said that by cutting P100 billion to P200 billion from the budget, Congress would still come up with a "responsible budget that addresses the requirements of more infrastructures, which is coincidentally less pork, less fat."

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya warned that reducing the budget would expose the country to the effects of the US credit crisis.

"We’re sacrificing economic growth," he told reporters. "Where are we going to get the funding for next year if we remove that amount?"

Andaya reiterated the effects of the US financial crisis had been factored in when they crafted the budget.

Despite the changes in the country’s macroeconomic assumptions, only the amount of money that will be borrowed is going to change, he said.

Zamora said the 15.3 percent increase in the proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) which would mostly go to infrastructure and agriculture is highly questionable.

The budget for infrastructure has been increased by 20 percent and agriculture by 56 percent.

The proposed GAA, House Bill 5116, is being deliberated on the floor after weeks of committee and sub-committee hearings.

The minority bloc has questioned the proposed budget for travel expenses of 26 government agencies which have been increased from P6.7 billion to P7.7 billion.

Of the amount, P470 million will go to the Department of Agrarian Reform which has only P32.4 million for travel expenses this year.

Zamora noted that for the past 13 years, the "spikes" in the budget comes a year before the elections.

"This is a classic example of an election year budget," he said.

Zamora said the minority bloc would zero-in on the lump sum allocations such as the travel expenses of agencies and what he called the "presidential pork barrel."

However he refused to support the reduction or abolition of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) which congressmen and senators use to fund projects.

"I don’t think so, mahirap ng pakialaman ang pork ng mga solons, mawawalan kami ng suporta," he said.

Each congressman has a minimum PDAF allocation of P70 million while a senator gets P200 million.

Andaya said despite the threat of budget deduction, Malacañang would still push through with the proposal to standardize and increase by 50 percent the base pay of government employees, including those in the local government units, government-owned and controlled corporations, government financial institutions and all uniformed personnel.

Andaya said such a law will not merely raise salaries but revise the compensation and position classification system in the government as well.

He said the proposed Salary Standardization Law will cost the government P109 billion for some 1.141 million national government employees alone.