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Tuesday, March l9,2fr19 . .

HOUSE TO WITHDRAW BUDGET VERSION

IT SENT TO SENATE, ENDING STANDOFF
Bv |ovrr Mlnre N. oeu Cnrz
t @joveemarie
& BUTCH FERNANDEZ
t documents'l containing the enrolled bill.
@batchJBM
fnc nouse or flepresentatives on
tvtondaV said it will withdraw rhe
II copy
of the enrolled 2019 General
Appropriations Act (cAA) that it eartier
sent to the Senate for signature.
San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora
was tasked by Speaker Gioria Macapagal_
Arroyo to negotiate with the Senate to
break the budget impas5e.
However, Zamora rejected Sen. panfilo
interpretationthatthe House con_
Lacson's
ceded due to pressure from the Senate.
"The House will withdraw the copy of
the enrolled bill that it earlier sent to the
Senate. Beyond that. nothing has beendis_
cussed oragreed betwben thetwo Houses
of Congress. These are early days, so not
much should be expecteCat ttis,pointi
Zamora sald.
"Well, oyoko n amang sa bi hi ng bu m igay
I don t want to say one camp conceded].
Basica lly they wanted a sign ofgood faith
in orderto continue discussing at basically
si nasabi ni la
nogpada la kayo ng i tang doku _
mento [they were saying,you sent us some
As you see it, kung puwede bqwiin wala
nomang problema lil itt possible to take
back those documents there shouldn,t
be a problernl because until the Senate
President in fact signs that, thatt still nor
an enrolled bill, lright]?,,Zamora said.
Andaya balks
HOWEVER, House Committee on Appro_
priations Chairman Rolando Andaya Jr.
,,BuDcET,,'
SEE A3

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Budget. . . CoNTTNUBDFRoMAI
said the proposed 2019 Ceneral Ap
propdations Act was approved in ple
naiyat the House of Representatives
and lhe ratification of bicameral con
ference report on the nationalbudget
was also made in plenary.
"Recallof the2019CAB lGeneral Ap-
propriations Bill] must also be done ilr
plenarysession, with majoritymernbers
of the House in approval," Andaya said.
According to Andaya. no congress
man has the authoritt without ple-
nary approval, to order the recall of
a &fferent matter. That's okay, because
'-'
tlat was what both sides have always
agreed on, since 1987 The Senate ard the
House itemizeportions afterthe apploval
of the bicameral conference committee,
but in general, tiese are first approved
inbicam. Now, we*now, and tleyloow,
that's not tlle itemizedthings tliatare the
subject of debate. Senator Lacson 1 think
was able to talk to Congressman Zarnora
already alrd the feedba& is that they will
act on it today, if not today, tomorrow."
The Senate President indicated
- Atso; Arrbyo insisted that the
House will not agree to any proposal
to not identify Lhe lump-sum funds in
the GAA, as the Supreme Court ruled
againstit. "We cannotagtee to alump-
sum allocation," said Arroyo.
Forhis part, Zamora also said the
Send$eledby Sotto should show and
preqent evidence that the House vio-
lated the Constitution when it itern-
ized the lump-sum funds.
"They have to show me where it is il-
legal. We[, ru tell you I ve been in several

the enrolled form of any bill already
transmitted to the Senate.
"I really do not know what they
are talking about. As Chairman of the
Appropdations Committee, I cannot
that senators expect the transmis-
sion of the budget bill as it will fi-
nallyfast-track its submission to the
Palace for signing into law
"We will wait for that action and if
bicameral conference committees beforc,
not this one, I'm not a part of this confer-
ence committee. You have to itemize, and
theapproprialronsleadershipint}leHowe
says that is itemization, Ifthe Senate says

undo an act authorizedbythe mem-
bers ofCongress. I am just one out of
the 291. Mypowers comefromthem.
A few senators cannot overturn an
institutional act," he added.
The move hy Speaker Arroyo-
through Zamora-ef f ectivelypaves the
way for the approved budget bill to be
signed into law by Plesident Duterte,
cutting shod the period the national
government agencies will be operating
under areenacted 2018 budget law.
Senate Presidentvicente q, Sotto lll,
in a separate interrriew at ihe ground-
breakingof anewSenatebuiJdingatBoni-
facio Global City, told repoders Lacson
called him up to confirm tlat Zamora
conveyedthe Houseleadership's decision
bill.
to recall their version of the budget
"Yes, Sen.Lacson told me [the other
daythat] Congressman RonnieZamora
was in touch, and that they wanted
to talk, so Senatol Lacson practically
asked for my concurrence. I [said] yes,
go ahead and talk to them," Sotto said,
adding: "Senator Lacsonknows the Sen-
ate stand, and that is, precisely, remove
what was not agreed upon lin the bud-
get bill ratified by the Senatel;' Sotto
said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Sotto added: "Removeftomtlrcbudget
w&at uas not ratified. What's being re-
ferredtois nott]rcone thatwas itemizd
someone'qeyingto derailthediscussions.
Theysaidthel,rnerelyitemized-butdrat's
it is submitted to us as ratified, I will t}Iat is not itemization, they should come
immediately sign it and considerit an up with specifics," said Zamora.
enrolled bill anil send it to tbe Presi- Earlier, Andaya said the Senate
stance on the 2019 national budget
dent for signature," Sotto added.
willrestore huge allocations of previous
In an earlier text message to BusI-
NEssMIRROR, Senate President Pro
Houseleadets andthe P75 -billion ques-
tionableinsertions of theDepartment
Tempore Ralph G. Recto conveyed
of Budget and Management.
concern over the protracted delay in
If the senators remain steadfast in
enacting a newbudgPt *aw.
defending the lump-suir funds, An-
Asked if he saw a middle ground
dayasaidthispracticewillremainand
to end the budget dea{lock, Recto
only the favored districts will get their
replied, "The best solution is for the
Houae to sign a budget consistent
share of the taxpayers' money.
Andaya reiterated the challenge
withthebicameralcommittee report,"
to the Senate to identify their lump-
Recto said. "Let us pass thebudgetas
sum funds. According to Andaya, the
agreed upon as soon as possible. Bud-
realignment of the Senate is also no-
get delayed is development denied."
where to be found in the bicameral
conference committee report.
'Nothing illegal'-GMA
He said the bicameral conference
ANDAYA has said the 17th Congress has
report that the Senate and the House
until May 20 to pass t-he P3.757-villion
approvedon FebruaryB containedlump-
national budget. Congress will resume
sum funds.
session on May 20 after the three-monti
brcakto givewaytotlremidtermelections.
Meanwhile, Arroyo reiterated that
ttTaorJr p^ef 'l
there is nothing illegal orunconstitu-
tional in the ratified proposed GAA. (e-)
She also gave assurances that the
Iowerchamber would notallow Presi
dent Duterte to signa national budget
thatis unconstitutional. "IA/hat we can
sayisthattheprocess thatwe followed
wasconstitutional.Wewouldneverput
the President in a position of signing
an unconstitutional bill," Arroyo told
reporters in an ambush interview.