Senator Panfilo Lacson said Sunday nothing was irregular so far in the 2020 budget bill that the House deliberated, approved and transmitted to the Senate.
“In fairness, here in the present House of Representatives, this is what I can say is the most behaved of our counterparts this time, Lacson told DZBB when asked if he saw "pork" in next year's budget submitted to them by the House.
“Because the P9.5 billion they announced were indeed institutional amendments from the NEP [National Expenditures Program], which they converted into GAB-1 [General Appropriations Bill 1]…”Lacson said.
“But now, they're saying, they put funds in the NFA for palay and the DOH to augment the Universal Health Care.”
Lacson even described as “most behaved” the current roster of House members considering the issues that past congressmen were embroiled in regarding the national budget.
Although he commended the House for sticking to its word, Lacson said he was not sure if the case would be the same in the deliberations of the bicameral conference committee on the national budget.
He hoped there would just be minor amendments.
While he noticed some “unclear” items worth P20 billion in the NEP, he admitted those could not be considered “pork” allocations because the Executive Departments vouched for them.
“If there are no many issues, we can simply forgive the P20 billion and let the DBM do the re-alignment,” Lacson said.
He also said it was likely that the Senate could just adopt the budget version approved by the House to hasten its enactment and prevent congressmen from making further amendments.
He said he had already raised this possibility to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, who both were already considering his proposal.
But Lacson said the senators had to keep an eye during the bicam on the budget as this was where congressmen could make their individual amendments.
He said House members should reveal to the public whether they would still make amendments to the budget during the bicameral conference committee.
Senate Finance Committee chairman Sonny Angara said they were expected to hold their plenary deliberations on the 2020 national budget by the second week of November.
Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri said the passage of the P4.1-trillion budget would be the top priority when Congress resumes today it’s First Regular Session of the 18th Congress.
“The Senate Finance Committee will definitely be busy conducting marathon hearings on the proposed P4.1-trillion national government budget for next year, he said.