THE most important job of Congress annually is to deliberate on and then pass the national budget. But when the time came for the House of Representatives, which theoretically has the power of the purse, to vote on the General Appropriations Act for 2010, fewer than 30 congressmen were present at the session. Only the fiction of an unquestioned quorum allowed the passage of the measure earlier this month.

For a time it was said the budget was held up by lawmakers who wanted reassurances their pork barrel would remain intact. In the end, the pork barrel for lawmakers was increased by P3.4 billion. That, it would seem, was the main preoccupation of lawmakers, since they didn?t even bother to dignify the budget with their attendance and votes.

The overall budgetary percentage devoted to legislators? pork is actually dwarfed by the vast budgetary patronage enjoyed by the President. Yet such is the small-mindedness of legislators that they didn?t even consider finally engaging the President in a showdown by depriving her of her enormous intelligence and other funds.

Instead, an obliging Congress gave President Macapagal-Arroyo the lion?s share of patronage and made proposals to help the executive in an election year. Sen. Edgardo J. Angara publicly pushed for a P100 million budget ostensibly for children?s programming in PTV-4, but a boost for the government propaganda network would, of course, have public relations benefits going into the elections.

Angara and his counterpart in the House, Quirino Rep. Junie Cua, chair of the budget committee, lopped off P64 billion from the allocation for debt service. Appropriations for specific agencies, however, were increased. The Department of Agriculture, for example, had its budget increased by P9.4 billion. But during the budget deliberations, one opposition senator pointed out that the DA had built farm-to-market roads in areas with no farms or roads leading to beach resorts. Greater scrutiny of the department that has been used to camouflage electioneering-oriented spending seemed called for, but instead it got more money to spend, as did other other agencies like the Department of Transportation and Communications, which got P3.8 billion more. In contrast, the Department of Education got an increase of only P2 billion.

At the same time, the powerful chairmen apparently took care of their own. While the President proposed P150 million for the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority, after the so-called ?third chamber? was done with the budget, the appropriation for Aseza had grown to P800 million.

In addition, there?s a P10 billion Economic Stimulus Fund, supposedly aimed at ameliorating the effects of the global recession. The specifics are slim, but the general breakdown of this fund smacks of election-oriented opportunities: P500 million as financial assistance for the Talinong Pinoy program, P1 billion for education and skills development training programs of Kabataang Pinoy, P1 billion in training assistance for fired workers, P3 billion for school buildings, P1 billion for medicines and supplies, P2.5 billion for food production, and P1 billion for Bantay Kalikasan and Bantay Dagat.

While the 2010 budget is supposed to cover the last six months of the current administration and the first six months of the next administration, we can confidently predict that most of this budget would be spent by June 30, 2010.

The Department of Finance projects a budget deficit of P300 billion this year, P50 billion more than expected. Next year?s budget deficit is expected to hit P278 billion, but if this year is any guide (and the pressures to spend recklessly will be intense, since it?s going to be an election year), that estimate will prove far too conservative. Barclays Capital pegs the coming year?s deficit at P300 billion, while the Royal Bank of Scotland puts it at P322 billion.

As it is, the swan song of the current crop of finance officials is that a balanced budget won?t be on the horizon until 2015. And this comes from an administration that once pledged to wipe out the deficit by 2010.