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Friday, March 29, 2024

Gloria starts ‘House-keeping,’ begins sessions hour earlier

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In a sharp departure from the practice of her predecessor, Speaker Gloria Macagpagal Arroyo on Friday vowed that no legislative districts would be starved for funds, even though their representatives belonged to the opposition.

“There will be no zero budget for opposition lawmakers. All lawmakers will receive their congressional entitlements as a gesture of goodwill,” Arroyo said in Filipino.

Even Arroyo’s critics will get a fair share of budget entitlements in their legislative districts next year, said Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr.

As far as the Arroyo-led House is concerned, the days of economic bullying are over, he said.

“The zero budget policy is over,” Andaya said. “Appropriations proposed by the Executive for projects and programs in a congressional district represented by a non-majority coalition member will not be drastically cut or reduced to zero.”

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During his term as a Speaker, Davao City Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez adopted the policy of withholding funds from districts whose representatives did not vote for certain administration measures.

But this will not happen again, Andaya said, as all congressmen will be treated equitably despite their refusal to support certain bills.

Andaya said Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, was tasked to implement Arroyo’s order.

“The big picture here is that constituents of opposition congressmen pay taxes so they are entitled to enjoy the fruits of their payments,” he said.

In a plenary session Wednesday, lawmakers also agreed to begin the daily sessions at the House at 3 pm instead of 4 pm to enable the chamber to be more productive and ensure the passage of priority bills without delay.

Among the priorities are the 2019 national budget and Charter change for federalism.

The House committee on appropriations, chaired by Nograles, aims to pass the 2019 budget by end of August, setting the stage for its plenary approval in September.

On the other hand, the House appointed Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso as the new chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, is set to begin deliberations on the draft federal constitution prepared by the Consultative Committee. Veloso replaced Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado as head of the committee after the latter abstained from voting for Arroyo as Speaker.

Cebu City Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa was named as the new chairman of House committee on natural resources, replacing LPGMA Party-list Rep. Arnel Ty.

Both Mercado and Ty, who are allied with the ousted Alvarez, have joined the minority group under ABS Party-list Rep. Eugene de Vera.

Meanwhile, PDP-Laban president Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said they have yet to decide if Arroyo would get a higher position in the party, now that she is Speaker.

Pimentel admitted there was a merit to the suggestions to give Arroyo a high position in the party since she holds a high post in the government.

Pimentel acknowledged there was merit in proposals to give her a high position in the party, in keeping with her rank in government.

Despite the actions of a breakaway group that “ousted” Pimentel as president, he said the PDP-Laban was healthy and in its “golden age.”

Speaking to party members during a top-level meeting, Pimentel said PDP-Laban has grown from just 40,000 to 93,000 registered members.

Pimentel credited the party’s growth to its chairman, President Rodrigo Duterte.

The meeting came a week after a faction of the ruling party elected a new set of officers, ousting Pimentel, and only retaining Duterte as chairman.

Pimentel said the meeting was a “regular” gathering and a start of a series of meetings as the 2019 midterm polls near.

Among those present in the meeting at a hotel in Quezon City were Alvarez, PDP-Laban vice chairman; Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi; Interior Undersecretary Martin Diño, and Davao 1st district Representative Karlo Nograles. With Macon Ramos-Araneta 

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