MANILA, Dec 14 (Reuters): Philippine senators approved an 8 percent increase in government spending in 2010, but realigned funds earmarked for infrastructure projects in Muslim areas after last month's massacre of 57 people.
Senator Edgardo Angara, head of the Senate's finance panel, said the legislature agreed to put more emphasis on economic stimulus and climate change programmes under next year's 1.541 trillion pesos ($33.35 billion) budget.
''This budget is about growing the economy and cleaning the country,'' Angara told reporters.
''We achieved that.
We provided substantial money to implement clean air and solid waste acts.'' Angara said the Senate did not touch the 25 billion pesos cut by the House of Representatives on government's debt servicing.
The money slashed from debt service was distributed to the public works, education, agriculture and transportation and communications departments, he said, adding funds were also realigned to fund a clean up of Manila Bay and the Pasig River in Manila.
''We also realigned about 1.2 billion pesos from the budget of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) because the lump sum funds appeared to be at the discretion of the regional governor,'' Angara said, adding it was also a ''touchy'' issue.
Last week, the government appointed a new ARMM governor after its two-term leader, Zaldy Ampatuan, was among 62 people arrested on rebellion charges when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo imposed an 8-day martial law on Maguindanao province.
The Ampatuans were linked to the murders of 57 people, including 30 journalists, in what could be the country's worst election-related violence.
Angara said the two-chamber Congress will meet tomorrow to harmonise the two versions of the spending bill before sending it to the president for signing later this month.
The spending plan, which was smaller than the near 15 percent increase in 2009, assumes a budget deficit of 233.4 billion pesos or 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product, as the government appears certain to blow past its deficit target of 250 billion this year.
Pacific island to back Russia on rebel regions-paper MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters): The tiny Pacific island of Nauru has pledged to recognise two Russian-backed rebel regions in exchange for financial aid from Moscow, the Kommersant newspaper reported today, citing Nauru's foreign minister.
Russia has been trying to secure international recognition for the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which most of the world regards as part of Georgia, after crushing a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in a five-day war last year.
After the war, Russia recognised the regions as independent states but so far only Venezuela and Nicaragua have followed sui.
Russia's respected Kommersant daily said Moscow had now persuaded Nauru to also recognise the regions by promising aid to the island nation in the South Pacific.
Kieren Keke, Nauru's foreign minister, was cited by Kommersant as saying during a visit to South Ossetia that his nation was ready to recognise the two regions.
Nauru, an island of 21 sq km, gained independence in 1968 and joined the United Nations in 1999 as the world's smallest independent republic, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia's rule after wars in the early 1990s and have run their own affairs ever since.
They depend on Russia for their defences and most of the people in both areas have Russian passports.