Andaya: Budget within legal bounds

The chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Wednesday said the P3.757-trillion national budget for this year was constitutional and transparent.

Rolando Andaya made the remark following the move by Senate President Vicente Sotto III to sign and submit the 2019 General Appropriations Bill”•with reservations—for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.

“The enrolled copy of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill has been transmitted to President Duterte for his study and signature,” Andaya said in a statement.

“Once enacted into law, I assure the taxpaying public that the national budget for 2019 will pass not only the test of constitutionality and legality but also of transparency and accountability.”

In his letter, Sotto urged Duterte to exercise his veto powers to remove what he called “unconstitutional realignments” in the enrolled copy of the budget bill.But Andaya said the House leadership had worked hard on the budget measure so that every House member would get their equitable share of their congressional entitlements, and that every item in the budget bill it approved was properly itemized.

“We may have locked horns with the senators on the contentious issues, but both sides chose to work on our commonalities rather than waste precious time over disagreements. That is democracy at work,” Andaya said.

“We are confident that the product of this democratic process will help improve our economic situation and uplift the lives of ordinary Filipinos.”