MANILA, Philippines — A House leader has assured the public as well as skeptical senators that the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 that was approved in record time is free of any pork barrel.
“I assure our countrymen that the General Appropriations Bill that the House has transmitted to the Philippine Senate Tuesday is a budget that guarantees a better and more comfortable life for most Filipinos,” Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu said.
“It is a budget that will support strong, sustainable and equitable growth, a budget that will make the Philippine society more inclusive than what it was the year before,” he stressed.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Panfilo Lacson are insinuating the 2020 national budget is filled with illegal allocations.
Earlier, Abu reminded the public that there’s strong reason why appropriations programs emanate from the House.
“That an appropriation bill has to originate from the House follows from the reasoning that the members are closer to the pulse of the people than the senators are and are therefore in a better position to determine both the extent of the legal burden they are capable of bearing and the benefits that they need,” Abu said, quoting constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, who is one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution.
In explaining the role congressmen play in national development, Abu pointed out that the “representative nature of this institution is the reason why appropriations bills originate exclusively from the House.”
“Unlike the Senate whose members are elected nationally, House members are elected at the district level, which makes us more ‘in touch’ with the development needs and aspirations of our people,” he pointed out.
“The fact that we in the House represent a smaller number of people than the Senate explains why the House is more effective in its role of representation,” Abu said, noting that senators “tend to (be) focused more on broader national issues.”
More assurance
Abu’s assurance was not enough for a group advocating budget transparency.
Jessica Reyes-Cantos, co-convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP), said. “Indeed, we cannot accept pork of any form and a simplistic equal distribution of what’s there for the taking as different areas have different needs.”
While it is important to avoid a re-enacted budget, Cantos explained this should not be at the expense of a well-scrutinized budget.
“Congress should not be remiss in putting forward rational, equitable spending, project monitoring and accountability for agriculture, health, education, child protection and child labor prevention and elimination programs. Ironically, while having the most impact on the poor and marginalized, these areas continue to suffer from budget cuts or underspending or both,” she said.
“There might be a rainbow behind the clouds in Congress’ swift action on the budget. For one, it gives time for the Senate to go through it with a fine-tooth comb. Second, it likewise gives time for civil society organizations like us to give inputs in the Senate budget deliberations process and hopefully, they will hear us out,” she said.
“Finally, it gives time for the House of Representatives to deliberate on and pass a supplemental budget which can possibly be sourced from the P283.55-billion unused appropriations in the 2018 budget.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is preparing a bill on the proposed new round of salary increase for the 1.8 million government officials and employees, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab said yesterday.
“After the proposal is finalized, it will be submitted to President Duterte for his approval. And then it will be transmitted to us,” Ungab, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said.
He explained his committee would adopt the approved DBM measure as its own and file it with the House as a proposed law.
“We hope that it would be approved by the House and the Senate before the end of the year,” he added.
Earlier, Ungab said the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for next year includes at least P31 billion for compensation adjustment.
For his part, answering questions from House members at a budget hearing, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said the planned salary increase would at least be 10 percent.
But Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who is ways and means committee chairman, said the amount allocated in the budget is enough only for a four-five percent pay hike.
To prove that P31 billion is insufficient, representatives of government workers said a bigger P70 billion is allocated in the 2020 budget for the salary adjustment of military and police personnel, who are far fewer than their civilian counterparts.
Priority for rank-and-file
House leaders have proposed that the rank-and-file be given priority in the new salary adjustment program.
Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero said those holding low salary grades from clerks, janitors, teachers and nurses up to mid-level employees should get bigger increases than higher-ranking and highly paid bureaucrats.
“We have to structure the adjustment in such a way as to benefit those with low salaries more than those with bigger compensation,” Romero, who represents party-list group 1-Pacman, said.
He said officials from section or service heads to bureau chiefs, directors, assistant secretaries, undersecretaries, Cabinet members and lawmakers already enjoy pay and benefits that are comparable with their private sector counterparts.
“The bigger part of funds for compensation adjustment should go to low-ranking personnel,” he added.
Abu, for his part, said senators, congressmen, Cabinet officials and other high-paid bureaucrats could forgo their pay hike in favor of rank-and-file employees.
“It will not hurt us. We can sacrifice in favor of the bulk of our government personnel,” he said.
Lawmakers are receiving about P300,000 in basic pay, while teachers and nurses get P20,754. President Duterte has a monthly salary of P400,000.
The lowest-paid employee receives P11,068.
Starting in January this year, government officials and employees have been getting their last annual salary increase under a four-year adjustment program contained in Executive Order No. 201.
Then president Benigno Aquino III issued the order in February 2016, four months before finishing his six-year term, after the House and the Senate failed to pass the proposed Salary Standardization Law-4 due to disagreement on whether military and police retirees would be covered.
If the new proposed three-year pay hike materializes, state workers will be receiving salary increases for seven consecutive years starting in 2016. – With Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva