President Rodrigo Duterte is dismayed over the lawmakers’ “inaction” on the passage of the 2019 national budget, Malacañang said Monday.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea made the remark after the Palace expressed its confidence that Congress will ratify the General Appropriations Act even with only three days left before the legislative branch goes on recess.
“He [the President] is aware. And I am sure he is dismayed at the legislators’ inaction, which will delay his infrastructure projects,” Medialdea told Palace reporters in a text message.
“[But] we are still hopeful that the legislators will perform their constitutional duties,” he added.
Medialdea said the President and his economic managers have done their part by submitting the proposed 2019 national budget a month before the deadline.
“The ball is in the hands of the legislators,” he said.
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said he “hopes for the best” that Congress will pass the 2019 national budget before it goes on recess.
“We eagerly await the passage of the general appropriations bill. They know that it will bring adverse consequences if we have reenacted budget. They know that,” Panelo said.
“In other words, we are still hopeful that it will pass. They said so. Remember they said that they will pass it. And, I watched Congressman [Rolando] Andaya saying that they are determined to pass the general appropriations bill,” he added.
Congress is set to hold its last plenary session on Wednesday, Feb. 6 as lawmakers will go on break from Feb. 9 to May 19 for the midterm elections.
Last week, the Palace rejected a proposal of Senate President Vicente Sotto III that a reenacted budget be used over his frustration over allegations of pork barrel and other irregularities in the budget process.
Malacañang has maintained that a reenacted budget will do more harm than good.
“It is still three days before they adjourn the session. Let’s see. Let’s just wait,” he said. “Hope springs eternal. We’ll hope for the best.”
The remaining sessions days after that May 2019 elections are on May 20 to June 7.
The Palace statements came as Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate committee on finance, announce a breakthrough in the budget impasse.
She described his meeting with her counterpart in the House of Representatives, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya as “more congenial and open.”
At the start of the session, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon asked Legarda for an update on the bicameral conference committee on budget.
Legarda said the committee has agreed to approve and ratify the 2019 national budget.
“Congressman Andaya and I agreed to meet again on Wednesday in the morning so that we can finalize it for a targeted ratification on Friday at the latest,” she said.
Legarda said she hopes that by Wednesday morning, there will be a final bicameral conference on the budget. She also said Congress may still hold sessions until Friday, even though it is supposed to go on a break of Wednesday.
On the other hand, Sotto said Legarda had told him that she and Andaya had agreed to remove issues over flood control and drainage.
“But as far as the Senate is concerned, we stand on institutional amendments. These are necessary amendments for the continuing of health services. These are nit indivudual amendments,” he said.
But administration ally and Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay on Monday joined calls from his colleagues for the Senate to account for its alleged P190-billion insertions under the 2019 national budget.
Pichay, at a news conference, said the senators would be accused of hiding something should they refuse to itemize the alleged insertions.
“We have to pass the budget,” Pichay said. “[The position of the House leadership as espoused by House Appropriations Chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. is for the Senate to itemize the P190- billion insertions. If you they have nothing to hide, why can’t they itemize it?” Pichay added.
He said the House had “nothing to hide” and said the Senate could violate a Supreme Court ruling on pork barrel if they do not account for the insertions.
Also on Monday, Andaya hit the Budget department for refusing to release a report on the 2018 savings “The Palace should side with Congress in compelling Secretary Diokno to make public the fund releases drawn from budgetary savings so it would be able to double-check what releases were covered with authorization from the Office of the President,” Andaya, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said in a statement Monday.
He added the Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno cannot unilaterally release savings without complying with laws or without the signature of the President.
“For the past two years, Secretary Diokno has been assuring Congress and the public that he will disclose the list of allotments sourced from savings and for the past two years he has been evading from making good his promise,” Andaya said.