WEDNESDAY / MARCH 6, 2019
.. WWW.INQUIRER.NET
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ty Marlon Ramos' DJ YaP
lnd christine O, Avendafto
@Team_Inquirer
.
the P3.8-triltion national bud-
let for 2019 is now"doomed" af-
Er Speaker Gloria Macapagal-
\rroyo unlawfully realigned
rundreds of millions of pesos
:or health facilities to her "fa-
rored" congressmen, Sen. Pan-
:ilo Lacson said on T[esday.
But Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr.,
:Iouse appropriations commit-
:ee chair, said Arroyo had no
rand in supposed last-minute
rdjustments in the still-un-
;igned 2019 budgetbill.
"The Senate President and
:he Speaker are not directly in-
rolved in the bicameral com-
rittee discussion. Responsibili-
rests on the bicam confurees,"
ry
ina statement.
A.ndaya said
Lacson repeated his accusa-
ion that Auoyo "manipulated"
:he spending measure after the
llouse. of Representatives and
:he Senate had already ratified
its final version on Feb. 8. The
President has yet to sign the bill.
1A$I-]tllllUIE TlllKERlll0 ffi0]rlED BUll0ET, FAU0REI AttlE$
In Malacaiang, presiden-
tial spokesperson salvador
Panelo said Arroyo had told
him that, conirary to Lacson's
allegation, the ratified 2019 na-
tional budget was intact and
unchanged
Panelo reiterated that the
President would review the
measure before signing it.
Itemizing lump sums
Andaya said the delay in the
transmittal of the general ap-
propriations bill to Mala-
caiang resulted in the House
"itemizing lump-surn appro-
priations" in the ratified ver-
sion without departing from
the one approved by the two
chambers.
' Lacson said the former Pres-
ident's intervention might fur-
ther defer the bill's enactment,
which had prompted the Dut-
erte addinistration to operate
on a reenacted budget since the
start of the year.
"(E)xercising this. latest
brazen, illegal act after the bi-
cameral committee report has
been adopted and ratified by
(congress) smacks of grave
abuse of discretion on the part
of Speaker Arroyo," the senator
said in a text message.
No unlawful am€ndments
"The 2019 national budget is
doomed, but not to our own lik-
ing," Lacson said. He added that
Arroyo flouted secti6n 26, Ani-
cle VI of the 1987 Constitution
that prohibited any dnendment
to proposed bills aheady ap-
proved by Congress.
In denying Lacson's claim,
Andaya said "the proposed gen-
eral appropriations act is a
product of both the Senate and
the House of Representatives. I
believe that we follow the same
rules and procedures in crafting
the national budget."
"we belibve ttiat by detailing
the items in the budgqt, by enu-
merating what will be funded,
projects and programs, per
agency and by district, will be
clear and evident," the Cama-
rines sur representative said.
If the procedure being un-
qeAc.6. _Ag
dertaken by the House was ille-
gal, then the Senate was equally
guilty had it itemized the sena-
tors' pet amendments to the
budget, Andaya said.
"We have been insisting to
our friends in the Senate to fxlly
disclose the authorship and de-
tails of the Senate amendments
to the budget," he said.
Clear the air
Andaya proposed a joint
conference with his senate
counterpart, finance Panel chair
Sen. LorenLegarda, "to clear the
ai/' and to identify each and ev-
ery amendment to the ProPosed
general appropriations act.
'After atl, transparency and
accountability is the name of
the game," he said.
Lacson said he was confi-
dent that his fellow senators
would support his opinion that
what the Speaker did was
clearly unconstitutional . and
inappropriate.
"It is basic in our legislative
process that the House as a
body has the sole power to
4
make the amendments, not the
Speaker, and certainly not after
the ratification of the bicameral
report," Lacson said.
Citing information Provid-
ed by some congressmen, the
senator claimed Arroyo allot-
"
ted to select House members
projects amounting to P25 mil-
lion each under the Health Fa-
cilities Enhancement Program
(HFEP) of the Department of
Health, including Pz.5 million
for the procurement of. an
ambulance.
He said those who did not
support A[oyo's election as
head of the 292-member cham-
ber were given only P8 million.
Health appropriations
Arroyo unseated then SPea-
ker Pantaleon Alvarez, one of
President Dutert€'s most trust-
ed political allies, just moments
before the President delivered
his third State ofthe Nation Ad-
dress in July last year.
"(Arroyo) has no business
or legal authority to prePare
and impose the menu list of the
Department of Health aPPro-
priations for (HFEP)," Lacson
said.
"I will raise a big legal issue
before my colleagues in the
(Senate regarding) this latest
scheme that our }trouse counter-
parts, led by their Speaker, are
resorting to, in order to manip-
ulate the ratified bicameral
cohmittee report," he said.
Thoroughly scrutinized
The changes in the budget,
Lacson added, affected the
HFEP pro.iects earmarked for
the legislative district ofat least
62 congressmen.
Asked how he would go about
the matter, Lacson said he wauld
urge Senate President Vicente
Sotto III not to sign the enrolled
spending bill until they have
thoroughly scrutinized the docu-
ments that would be submitted
for Mr. Duterte's signature.
"We will insist that the en-
rolled bill is combiiant and a
faithful reproduction of the bi-
cameral report. That is the bot-l
tom line," he said. INQ