MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has ordered the retrieval of its copy of the 2019 spending plan that was sent to senators in a last-minute bid to break a budget deadlock now on its third month, a House lawmaker said Wednesday.
“The House leadership has dispatched the secretary general to the Senate to physically retrieve the budget books that we sent to the senators. This is in line with [Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo]'s instruction to allow a last-ditch effort to break the budget impasse,” House appropriations commitee chair Rolando Andaya Jr. (Camarines Sur) said in a statement.
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“The speaker has also instructed us to form a three-man House team that will meet with their Senate counterparts to address contentious issues on the 2019 General Appropriations Bill. We are giving ourselves five days to complete this task,” he added.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III last week said he would not sign the enrolled copy of the General Appropriations Bill unless the House of Representatives withdraws all the changes it made amounting to over P95 billion into an already ratified budget.
The squabble has delayed the signing of the budget bill by President Rodrigo Duterte, who said he would not approve an “illegal document.”
This is the first time since the Arroyo administration that the government has resorted to running on a reenacted budget.
Andaya previously insisted that the House only “itemized” the lump sums created during the bicameral conference committee on the budget bill, adding that the Senate also did the same to the spending plan after it was ratified.
'House not withdrawing'
In the same statement on Wednesday, Andaya said the House was “not withdrawing or backtracking from our earlier position.”
“We maintain that the House did nothing unconstitutional, illegal or irregular when we approved and ratified the 2019 GAB in plenary session,” he said.
“We hope that the contingents from the Senate and the House can agree to a common venue for a formal discussion on the issues and not debate on the merits of their position through the media,” he added.
According to reports, Sotto and Sen. Panfilo Lacson in separate interviews said Rep. Ronnie Zamora (San Juan City)—whom Speaker Arroyo sent last week to “negotiate” with the Senate—told them that the House leadership agreed to withdraw its version of the budget bill and transmit the one ratified by Congress last February 8.
But on Tuesday, Arroyo said: “No, we have not withdrawn our version. We’re in discussions about what is the proposed new version.”
Asked if he would agree to hold a “clarificatory meeting” with House lawmakers, Sotto said: “Hindi na siguro, we will just wait for their final decision. Kami kasi we already have a final decision, and that is to stand by what we ratified.”
The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee last week cut its 2019 gross domestic product growth projection to 6-7 percent from 7-8 percent originally as new projects remain unfunded due to the budget deadlock.
Separately, the National Economic and Development Authority said the economy could expand by 4.2-4.9 percent this year if the new spending plan were enacted as late as August. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral