I
'We
didntwithdrawbudget copy, says GMA
HE leadership ofthe House
of Representatives on Tues-
day clarified that it has not
withdrawri the enrolled proposed
2019 General Appropriations Act
(cAA).
Speaker Gloria MacaPagal-Ar-
royo made the clarification after
San Juan Rep, Ronaldo Zamora
o\ and Sen. Panfilo Lacson claimed
that the House has agreedto recall
6l
_i its version ofthe annual budget to
N break the budget impasse.
U "No, we have not withdrawn our
d version. Wete indiscussions about
a what is the proposed newversion,"
c! said Arroyo in an interview at the
E sidelines ofan event on mining.
Zamorawas taskedbyArtoyo to
6) negotiate with the Senate.
Arroyo said no annual budget
will be transmitted to Preqident
H Duterte for signature if there's no
agreement between the chambers.
"If we don t come to an agree-
Budget ' . . CONTINUED FROM AA2
House leadership had simply itemized lump-
sum outlays in theGAB in the interestoftrans-
parency," Villafuerte, a vice chairman of the
H0use appr0priati0ns (0mmittee, said.
Villafuerte also hit the House leadership
for committinq an "unconstitutional abomina-
ti0n" in realiqninq this (0ngressional break to
favor some solons.
Citing an offidal document,Villafuertesaid
\ the Hous€-initiated amendments for the 2019
PAG1€ -Ata'/ b udget increased the GAB by P20.724 billion, re-
sulting from posilive realignments 0f Pl00.428
billion and negative realignments 0r (uts 0f
merg and then lSenate President]
Tito Sotto does not sign the bill,
then there's no bill to send to the
President. So I do not know if we
will, but I would wish we would,"
she added.
Accordingto Arroyo, the House
will stand strong on its position
that itemizing the lump sum is
legal even after ratification. The
bicameral confetence report that
the Senateandthe House approved
on February 8 contained lump-
sum funds.
"We will insist on no lump sum
because that is what is unconstitu-
tional. That's what we will insist,
no lump sum. Now, as to the details,
that's the one thatwe'll see," she said.
Thelower chamberis askingthe
Senate to identify their lump-sum
funds. According to the House, the
realignment of the Senate is also
nowhere to be found in the bicam-
eral conference committee report.
P79.704billion in funds for DPWH programs.
However. he said the same d0(ument noted
that although the House amendments only
amounted t0 a net increase 0f P20.724 the
damber had adually introduced "internal re-
alignments" within the DPWH budget that "will
substantiallychang€'1he alloeti0n per(0ngres-
sional distrid and the natureofthe projeds,
The lawmakersaid the realigned allocations
0rbudgetcutsfrom theoverS0targeted districts
(overed P72.319 billi0n in DPWH-identified proi
ects for roads and bridges, nati0nal buildings,
network developmen! flood ma gement, as-
Earlier, House Committee on
Appropriations Chairman Rolando
Andaya Jr. said no congressman
has the authoritt withoutplenary
approval, to order the recall of the
enrolled form of any bill already
transmitted to the Senate.
The proposed 2019 GeneralAp-
propriations Act was approved in
plenary at the House ofthe Repre-
sentatives, and the ratification of
the bicameral conference report on
the national budgetwas also made
'in plenary, Andaya said.
That's whn Andaya said the re-
eal1of the 2019 GeireralAppropria-
tions Bill (GAB) must also be done
in plenary session, with Majority
{nembers of the House in approval.
The 17th Congress has until
May 20 to pass the P3.7s7-trillion
national budget. The Congress
will resume session on May 20 af-
ter the three-month break due to
midterm elections.
set preservati0n and foreign-asshted projeds;
and P4,150 billion of projeds underthe DPWH!
c0nvergen(e and Spedal 5u pport Pr0gram.
M0reover, the outlay for the local Infrastru(-
ture Program, which indudes projeds identified
by legislators, reflected a net increase 0f P95.u3
billion,ofwhich PTo.T29billionwas"parked"under
the budgetofthe DPWH centralofflce, hesaid.
Senators stand firm
SENAToRS are sta nding firm 0n the final version
0f the P3.7-trillion 2019 budgel they ratified,
even as La(son was tapped t0 hold talks with
Andaya explanation assailed
AMID conflicting reports on
whether the House is withdraw-
ing or not its version of budget,
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund
Villafuerte, in a statement, saidAn-
daya's explanation was nothingbut
"claptrap."
He said tinkering with the
GAB after its ratification by the
Congress was unconstitutional
it violated Article VI, Section
as
26 (2) ot the 1987 Constitution,
which states that, "Upon the last
reading of a bill, no amendments
thereto shall be allowed, and the
vote thereon shall be taken im-
mediatelythereaf ter, and theyeas
and nays entered in the Journal."
"Congressman Andaya wants to
hoodwink the public into believ-
ing that there was nothing.illegal
about this post-ratification act
because-in Andaya's words-the
SsE "BuDGBT," A2
their House ounterparts seeking t0 recall the
akeady enrolled budget billsetto be submitted
t0 President Duterteforsigning into law
Senate President Vi(ente (.50tt0lll said
they were getting mixed signals from their
House (ounterparts.
"Yes,we're gettingonfused n0w. What'sth€
realsc0re?" 5ottosaid in an interview0n Iuesday,
adding:"50, wewilljust wait forthem lHouse
membersl to make up their minds, oth€rwise,
we(an waituntilJune 30," referring t0 the date
when the terms 0f inombent (ongressmen ex-
pitQs. hree Maie lL Deh ouz, But lt Fenondez