The chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations on Friday called on the Senate to itemize in public the changes that the senators did on the proposed 2019 budget after the bicameral committee had approved it.
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., the panel’s chairman, said the senators should stop the “striptease act now.”
He made his statement even as the Senate said President Rodrigo Duterte’s priority projects, including his flagship “Build, Build, Build” program, had not been compromised despite the cuts in the 2019 national budget.
The Senate’s Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office said the P549.390 billion in new appropriations for the Department of Public Works and Highways approved by Congress was even P4.869 billion higher than the proposal presented by Malacañang.
Data showed that the bill transmitted to the President reflected an increase of P32.923 billion compared to the P516.467 approved by the House of Representatives.
Andaya said the senators should bare all.
“I do not know why [the senators are] so afraid of making public their individual realignments. We have nothing to hide from the public. As responsible officials tasked with budget authorization, we must all be ready to defend our positions and decisions,” Andaya said in a statement on Friday.
“In the spirit of transparency and accountability, I have repeatedly asked the senators to give us full details of their realignments in the 2019 national budget. They kept us in the dark in the bicameral meetings, informal meetings, and even in our meeting with the President.”
Andaya’s statement came after Senate President Vicente Sotto III denied on Thursday that they made post-ratification realignments to their “pet projects” amounting to P83.9 billion.
“P83 what? I don’t even know what he is talking about. LBRMO [the Senate’s Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office] and the finance committee can swear to all that we did not touch anything after ratification except what was agreed in bicam,” Sotto said.
Andaya said the Senate, through Director General Yolanda Doblon, head of the LBRMO, had admitted that the chamber slashed more than P80 billion from the 2019 budget of Duterte’s major infrastructure projects and social programs.
“The Senate, through its LBRMO chief, also confirmed that the budget cuts were realigned to fund the senators’ pet projects and programs,” Andaya said.
“The LBRMO chief, however, stopped short of admitting that the Senate submitted the realignments to the House of Representatives bit by bit from February 11 to March 8, several days after both chambers ratified the Bicameral Conference Report on Feb 8.”
Andaya said he could understand where the LBRMO chief was coming from; she could not displease her bosses, the senators.
“She cannot contradict the earlier statements made by the Senate President. But I believe a good employee must be ready to tell his Boss when he’s wrong. Wrong advice, wrong decision,” Andaya said.
“What I cannot understand is her explanation that the senators’ realignments were already made known to the public. The figures I released over the past days with regard to the senators’ post-ratification adjustments were never disclosed to the public by the Senate.” With Macon Ramos-Araneta
