MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros) assured that the proposed 2021 national budget would not be delayed even if the House will be missing its original deadline to pass the fiscal plan as it decided to go on a break earlier.
In a Facebook Live video, Cayetano said that the House now aims to pass the budget on November 16, more than a month after its original target date to approve the P4.5 trillion spending bill on October 14.
“Don’t worry, the budget will not be delayed. We will send this immediately [to the Senate],” Cayetano said Tuesday evening.
He also said that while the House would not be holding sessions until November 16, lawmakers in the lower chamber would still be working on the budget together with the small committee he formed which would collate proposed amendments from lawmakers.
He said that with the developments in the House’s handling of the budget, the transmission of the proposed budget to the Senate would only be delayed by a day.
“I don’t think [the Senate] would not be able to pass it, we’re just talking of a one-day delay,” Cayetano said.
The speaker also encouraged senators to work with the House during the break so that the meetings of the bicameral conference committee, which would thresh out the differences in the House and Senate versions of the budget, would be “less contentious.”
‘Speaker violated rules, stifled our voices’
The House passed Tuesday the budget on second reading while skipping crucial public debates on the spending plan as Cayetano moved to end the period of interpellations and amendments on the proposed measure, invoking Section 55 of House rules.
That rule states that a motion to close the debate on the measure can be made after three speeches in favor of it and two against or just one speech in favor and none against. Marathon plenary debates on the budget were already on its sixth day when Cayetano moved to railroad the passage of the spending plan.
Cayetano said this was to show that he is not holding the spending plan hostage to cling onto power, contrary to accusations hurled at him by his rival for the speakership Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque).
After the House passed the budget on second reading, Cayetano’s allies moved to suspend session until November 16, 3 p.m.
Some lawmakers on the floor can be heard objecting to Cayetano’s motions, but they were overpowered by the speaker’s allies. Rep. Lito Atienza (Buhay party-list), who was participating through Zoom, also tried to object, but he was not able to unmute himself.
Speaking to ANC’s Headstart, Atienza said Cayetano violated the rules of the House and even the Constitution.
“He adjourned it illegally. There was not even a question asked, or debate allowed. There was not even a vote. That wasn’t a vote … That’s called fraud,” he said Wednesday.
Rep. Angelina Tan (Quezon) also said that their voices were stifled as they were robbed of the chance to debate on the budget in public.
“We lost the venue to participate. What’s important here is for the public to hear why you are pushing for a certain measure or amendment in the budget,” Tan told ANC’s Headstart in Filipino.
Rep. Sharon Garin (AAMBIS-OWA party-list) also said closing the debates on the budget allows for less transparency.
“If we close the debates now without even discussing the almost 20 departments, then that’s not transparent. We’re depriving the Filipino people the kind of budgeting they need,” Garin told reporters.
Atienza also questioned the creation of a small committee which would handle proposed individual and committee amendments to the budget.
“That’s not part of our rules. He’s making up his own rules in the middle of the game again retreating out of panic, shooting both double barrel guns of illegal actions,” Atienza said.
Fears of a reenacted budget
Cayetano’s small committee is not without precedent. In 2018, the House under then-Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also formed a small committee of the chamber’s leaders to receive proposed amendments to the 2019 national budget by House members.
But this was also the budget which ended up being delayed for four months as several lawmakers alleged that there were illegal insertions in the spending plan.
As a result, the Philippine government had to operate on a reenacted budget, or use the previous year’s spending plan, which caused an economic downturn.
Operating again under a reenacted budget would not be optimal, according to Garin, as the 2020 budget did not account for the problems caused by the pandemic.
“We’re going to endanger more lives and probably lose our livelihood if we don’t fix it properly,” she said.