House of Representatives finally recalls its 2019 budget bill

MANILA, Philippines — After mixed signals from the leadership of the House of Representatives, the chamber is finally recalling the 2019 budget bill it has sent to the Senate and which Senate President Vicente Sotto lll has refused to sign for being supposedly constitutionally questionable.

In a statement yesterday, appropriations committee chairman Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said the House has dispatched its secretary general to the Senate “to physically retrieve the budget books that we sent to the senators.” 

“This is in line with the Speaker’s instruction to allow a last-ditch effort to break the budget impasse. 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 (GAB),” he said.

He said they are aiming to agree in five days on what version of the budget to send to President Duterte for signing into law.

“We want to make it clear, though. We are 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.

Andaya appealed to his colleagues and senators to “not debate on the merits of their position through the media” and to discuss issues in formal meetings.

Sotto has refused to sign the House-printed budget bill because he claims it contains billions in realignments leaders of the larger chamber made after the bicameral conference committee (bicam) report on the final version of the budget was approved last Feb. 8.

Such post-approval changes, which Sotto said resulted in the loss of huge allocations for at least 62 districts and which allotments were allegedly given to favored members, were illegal and unconstitutional.

Andaya said what they did was to “itemize” or support with a list of projects lump sums he and his Senate counterpart had agreed on in February shortly before the Senate and the House ratified the bicam report.

On Tuesday, San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora announced that Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has authorized him to tell senators the House was withdrawing the budget bill.

Arroyo, however, later said her chamber was not recalling the measure. Sotto said they were confused with the mixed signals coming from the House.

The Senate has been calling on the House to instead transmit the approved budget without realignments and as contained in the approved bicam report. That version has lump sums, which Sotto said the President could veto.

Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay supported the stand of the House.

As former appropriations committee chairman, he said traditionally, the bicam approves budget ceilings for each agency but that the Senate and the House “are authorized separately to complete the details within the ceilings.”

He said the House did not breach those ceilings and did nothing illegal or unconstitutional. 

Senate President Sotto was glad the House secretary general retrieved the copy of the 2019 budget earlier sent to the Senate.

“I welcome the retrieval, I could have sent it back for being unfaithful to what was approved by the bicam and ratified in plenary but I did not as prudence dictates. Our Congress is bicameral. It’s very elementary,” Sotto said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Sotto refused to sign the copy as verification made by the Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) indicated that there were alterations made.

“On the part of the Senate, kung ano yun inaprubahan at (what was approved and) ratified by the Senate and House of Representatives, yun ang dapat i-submit sa Pangulo (should be sent to the President),” said Lacson in an interview over dzMM.

He said the President has the power to veto portions of the P3.757-trillion national budget. He, however, said this could be managed through a supplemental budget to be passed by both House and Senate.

Earlier, Lacson said he is against insatiably greedy politicians, especially those who lust after pork barrel funds, in response to some House members who continue to accuse him of “vendetta” in denouncing pork in the 2019 budget.

Lacson reiterated his actions against pork barrel in the 2019 budget are not about any individual congressman or senator, but about his crusade against the pork barrel system and the national budget, which is the lifeblood of the country.

Department funds

Funds intended to help the poor and lodged with the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have dried up due to the delay in the enactment of the proposed national budget for this year, congressmen complained yesterday.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said public school teachers and students are also bound to suffer with the continuing delay in the passage of the 2019 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Earlier, the Department of Transportation said the rehabilitation of Metro Rail Transit 3 along Edsa could not be started because funds for it are contained in the still-to-be-enacted 2019 budget. 

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte faulted the leadership of the House of Representatives for the delay in the enactment of the spending program for this year.

Teachers to suffer

As political debate over the budget rages, DepEd appealed to lawmakers to consider the people who are affected by the budget delay, including thousands of teachers who may suffer if the new budget is not immediately approved.

“The Department of Education is the largest agency in the government. We suffer the most. We have the most number of new employees, we have projects which we cannot initiate. We have accountabilities which we cannot settle,” Briones said at a press conference last Monday.

“It would be appropriate if we shift our attention to those who suffer the consequences of this prolonged debate,” she added.

DepEd Undersecretary for finance Annalyn Sevilla said their division offices were able to work around the lack of new budget to provide salaries to some 100,000 newly hired teachers whose salaries are lodged in the 2019 budget.

However, she said they might face problems in releasing the salaries of teachers if no new budget is approved by April.

“We are working with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to find out where these teachers are so we can request for the additional funding out of the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund,” she said.

Sevilla said DepEd personnel, like other government employees, are also waiting for the salary increase provided under the fourth tranche of the salary standardization directive issued by former president Benigno Aquino III.

“This amounts to about P20 billion as we have more than 800,000 personnel in the Department of Education and all our employees are actually waiting for that increase,” she said.

“Another expected budget item under 2019 budget is the annual medical exam of our teachers. If the 2019 General Appropriations Act will be approved, there will be a budget item of P500 per teacher to cover for their medical exam,” she added. - With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Janvic Mateo