Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Sunday appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to extend the special session of Congress for another four days from Oct. 19 to 22 to give lawmakers enough time to scrutinize and approve the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
Interviewed over Dobol B sa News TV, Lagman said this would enable the House to introduce committee and individual amendments to the spending plan before it is approved on second and third reading.
In the Senate, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon proposed the holding of a special session from Nov. 9 to 13 to guarantee the timely approval of the P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.
Drilon urged the President to call for a special session of Congress on those dates to allow the Senate to debate the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act on the floor.
“We will debate on the budget from Nov. 9 to 13. We can finish it within five to seven days and allot two weeks for the bicam,” said Drilon in an interview over radio dzBB Sunday.
He said Congress can send to Malacanang the 2021 GAA by the first week of December so that the President can sign it before Jan. 1, 2021.
Congress is set to adjourn on Oct. 17 and will resume session only until mid-November.
Last week, Congress approved on second reading House Bill 7727, or the 2021 general appropriations bill without completing the scheduled plenary deliberations, over the objections of some lawmakers.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano then suspended session until Nov. 16, despite an earlier commitment to pass the budget on third and final reading by Oct. 14.
Congress created a small committee of lawmakers to accept committee and individual amendments to the budget bill, but the President called for a special session from Oct. 13 to 16 to resume budget deliberations and to avoid any delays in the bill's passage.
Lagman said the small committee deliberations should not push through because the process was not transparent.
“These committee and individual amendments should be proposed, discussed and approved in the plenary,” he said in Filipino.
He called for the reopening of the plenary deliberations on the 2021 budget since the budget proposals of four major government agencies have not yet to be examined.
He said allocations for some constitutional and executive offices, and the state universities and colleges also have not been scrutinized.
Cayetano came under fire for delaying the budget's passage because he wanted to hold on to his position, despite a term-sharing agreement he had with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Yap, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, on Sunday said he will meet with Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to discuss the budget.
“Tomorrow (Monday), I will have a meeting with Speaker Cayetano on what to do-whether we continue the second reading, renew or proceed with the third reading," he said.
Interviewed over Dobol B sa News TV, he said “That’s what we have to decide on, and I am waiting for the guidance of Speaker Cayetano," he added.
Yap said Congress would have the ample to pass the 2021 budget bill on third reading.
The President has already called for a special session of Congress from Oct. 13 to 16 to allow the House of Representatives, which adjourned session last October 6, to finish the approval of the budget.
Section 15, Article VI of the Constitution allows the President to call a special session at any time.
The Senate leader also said the holding of a special session is a “safety net” in case there will be delays at the bicameral conference committee, which will reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget bill.
