Two ranking members of the House of Representatives are pushing for the creation of a small committee, which will be tasked to accept or reject institutional and individual amendments to the 2020 P4.1-trillion national budget, stressing that it is valid, legal and constitutional.
Deputy Speaker Neptali Gonzales and Albay Rep. Jose Marte Salceda said the small committee can help speed up the process of amendments to the budget program and avoid a repeat of budget reenactment that had led to the economic slowdown.
The congressmen maintained their position even as Senator Juan Edgardo Angara warned of the negative impact on the economy should the budget plan will be delayed anew.
Gonzales said there is nothing irregular in the creation of a small committee to process individual amendments despite the passage of the national budget on third and final reading last Sept. 20.
The 1987 Constitution allows the plenary to approve the budget, sets procedures to ensure its swift passage and guarantee that the programs of the government are prioritized over the parochial concerns of 300 House members, he said.
“The plenary has the power to create and task the small committee as condition despite the budget approval to process some adjustments it deemed necessary. The small panel helps us not to go to the rigors of individual amendments of every congressman. It is not only valid, legal and constitutional, it is also practical and judicious to safeguard the national programs by regulating parochial concerns,” Gonzales pointed out.
“ Imagine if you allow 300 lawmakers to introduce budget amendments in the plenary, do you think we can still approve the national budget?” he asked.
Gonzales was seconded by Salceda, House committee on appropriations vice chairman, who said “delegating to a small committee some of the duties that the plenary could otherwise perform is a practice that has been done in the past years, as far back as the 8th Congress, when the House deliberates on the General Appropriations Bill.”
“If we are to refresh the public’s memory, this is not the first time that the creation of the small committee was resorted to. This is for facility and for practical purposes. Not all 300 members of the House of Representatives can sit down together and finalize all the amendments to the bill,” Salceda said.
“What is of paramount importance is that the plenary authorized the small committee to receive and resolve amendments and that the small committee acts within the purview of the authority conferred upon it by the plenary. We appeal to the Senate to observe inter-parliamentary courtesy and allow us to do our work first. Their turn to scrutinize the budget bill will come when we formally transmit to them the printed copy of the 2020 GAB on Oct. 1,” he added.
Angara for his part emphasized the need to pass the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget by Dec. 31 or earlier and that is the “biggest goal this year.”
“We were on a reenacted budget for six months. We have no new construction projects. We have seen how the economy suffered and its growth hampered,” said Angara in an interview over dzBB
“It is important that by December 31, 2019, the 2020 budget should have been passed. So that when we enter January 1, we already have a new budget and government projects should already be ongoing,” he said.
Discussions and debates on the budget are normal but at the end of the day, the budget should be compliant as what was stated by the Supreme Court.
“That’s important. Sometimes, the exchange of words would not help because it delays the process,” he said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier exposed the alleged “pork insertions” in the national budget made by House members. He said the 22 deputy speakers allotted to themselves P1.5 billion each while other members will get P700 million each.
House leaders strongly denied Lacson’s allegations which resulted in a word war. They also challenged the senator to reveal his sources.
But Lacson declined to name names as he stood pat on his claim that about P54 billion is in the form of pork-barrel which was already declared unconstitutional and illegal by the Supreme Court.
The House had already voted on third reading the General Appropriations Bill which is ongoing amendments before being transmitted to Angara’s finance committee.