The Philippine government Wednesday called anew for passage of the proposed 2007 budget, saying it hoped that legislators could get their act together to break the impasse.

"We are hopeful that with the opening of session in Congress before the end of the month our legislators would be able to get their act together and pass the General Appropriations Act," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

Bunye said the new budget, to fund major infrastructure projects of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, would sustain the momentum in the economy buoyed by the strong peso and investments.

"The remaining issues should not be an obstacle to its speedy passage and we are confident that our legislators would be exercising the highest degree of statesmanship in this regard," Bunye said.

Philippine Congress will resume session on Jan. 22 following the Christmas break. The bicameral committee suspended meetings still deadlocked on the proposed 1.126 trillion pesos (22.74 billion U.S. dollars) budget amid a Senate proposal to remove the 4.7 billion-peso-appropriation (94.9 million U.S. dollars) of the Department of Education for its food-for-school program.

The Philippine government is currently operating on a reenacted 2005 budget, amounting to 907.6 billion pesos (18.33 billion U.S. dollars), after the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to pass the 2006 proposal over disagreements in cuts.

The proposed 2007 budget is 83.3 billion pesos (1.68 billion U. S. dollars) higher than the 2006 budget.

Source: Xinhua