Rep. Edcel Lagman said Monday there was no withdrawal of the General Appropriations Bill and that the money measure will pass as scheduled.
READ: P4.1-trillion budget bill withdrawn
However, House committee on appropriations chairman and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab accused Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte of trying to tamper with the proposed P4.1-trillion national government budget for 2020 to introduce “insertions.”
Ungab said any changes being done to the GAB that is basically a copy of the National Expenditure Program submitted by Malacañang is an “insertion.”
“Deputy Speaker [Villafuerte] is meddling too much that he wants to change the GAB. Changing the money measure that comes from the Executive department is wrong. He withdrew because he wanted to change the GAB,” Ungab said.
The leadership of the House of Representatives, however, said it was committed to pass the measure in a transparent and timely manner.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the proposed budget for 2020 “will be scrutinized but will not be delayed and will be transparent.”
“Pork and parking have no place in the 2020 budget,” Cayetano said in a statement as he reiterated that next year’s national expenditures will be “pork-free.”
“Parking” refers to the funds allocated to certain agencies, usually the Department of Public Works and Highways, for certain districts that appear to be legitimate items, but in reality, the money is held be the agency for the congressman behind the “parking” to disburse as he sees fit.
Lagman said the controversy hounding the proposed budget was only an issue involving a “change of referral.”
“There was only a change of referral from the Committee on Appropriations to the Committee on Rules for the time being since the budget briefings are ongoing and the plenary debates are yet to be scheduled. There will be no delay,” Lagman said.
“I presume that at the proper time the GAB will be referred to the Committee on Rules for plenary sponsorship and deliberation. Meanwhile, the Committee on Appropriations will continue with the budget briefings on the NEP of which traditionally the GAB is a virtual replica.”
Villafuerte claimed the filing of the bill on first reading on Aug. 28 was “premature” since all departments and other agencies of the government had yet to finish presenting their respective budget proposals at the time.
But Ungab said Villafuerte, deputy speaker for finance, instructed to withdraw the money measure and that he even instructed the appropriations staff to tamper with the bill, which he said was “wrong.”
“Insertion will be the game plan when there is an attempt to make changes to the budget bill,” Ungab said.
Villafuerte earlier claimed he moved for the withdrawal of HB 4228 that same night, supposedly upon the Speaker’s order, even as he assured his fellow legislators and the public that no irregularity would attend the House deliberations on the 2020 GAB.
Villafuerte said the House leadership was scheduled to approve the money measure at the end of October without “short-circuiting” the normal legislative process for this bill’s committee and plenary approval as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.
