-
NIqInVCr,
House withdraws tpt.maturet
2020 budget bill from plenary
BY WEI{DELL VIGILIA
THE House of RepresJrrt"ti-r.,
has withdrawn the htng of the
proposed P4.1.tdllion proposed
national budget in the plenary last
Wednesday night by the committee
on appropriations on the motion
of deputy speaker Luis Raymond
"LRay'' Villafuerte of Camarines
Sur, who warned against "short-
circuiting" the normal legislative
Process.
Villafuerte said that while the
House leadership is fully commit-
ted to passing the proposed 2020
nationai budget on time, "this
legislative process must not be
done with undue haste or making
amockeryof the House's constitu-
tional power of the purse."
Villafuerte said "all commitree
and pieriary deliberations on this
bill (must) be fully transparent
Td q kgeprng with the Supreme
Court's landmark ruling against
so-called pork barrel funds for
legislators."
Villafuerte said there was no
need for the House ..to short_
circuit the legislative process on the
See HOUSE ) Page 83
\ prir ;n,A&€u
MondaY, SePtem ber 2, 2OLg
HOUSE
excuse that the House should pass
the GAB soon enough to avoid a
repeatof the 2019 budget delay."
The Bicolano lawmaker issued
the statement after Dar.ao City
Rep. Isidro Ungab revealed that
Villafuerte had movdd for the
v-ithdrawal of the bill from the
plenary minutes after the House
appropriations committee filed the
proposed 2020 expenditure bill for
first reading last \Tednesday.
Ungab, who is knov'n for his
D"p-
closeness to presidential soh
un Speaker Paolo Duterte and
his sister Davao Citl'Mayor Sara
Duterte-Carpio, admined he asked
the appropriations committee sec-
retanatto fi.le the bill for first read-
iog irr the plenan- while his panel
is still conducting budget hearings.
"Yes. I requested the Appro-
priations Committee Secretariat
to 6le the General Appropriations
Bill Fl-2020 for first reading last
\Fednesday with House 8il1 No.
4228, but I was informed that
the bill was withdrawn by Deputy
Speaker LRayVillafuerte. I do not
ha'i,-e personal knowledge on the
act of withdrawal on the floor and
upon whose orders this was made,"
Ungab told reporters.
The younger Duterte, who had
been eyeing the speakership post
before the opening of the 18th
Congress lastJuly, had made it clear
that he is against the term-sharing
agreement between Speaker Alan
Peter Cayetano and Marinduque
Rep. Lord Alan Velasco even if it
was his father, President Duterte,
who brokered the deal.
Villafuerte, a p^fty mate of
the Speaker's, said the House
leadership remains fully commit-
ted to the timely and transparent
passage of the 2020 General Ap-
propriations Bill (GAB), "so as to
avoid the protracted, if secretive,
deliberations that led to the fout-
and-a-half-month delay in.the ap-
proval of the 201,9 nanonal budget,
which pardyinduced the domestic
economic slowdown in this year's
fitst semester."
He said that the House leader-
ship is targeting the chamber's
action on the GAB (House Bill
No. 4228)'by end of October
without "short-circuiting" the
normal legislative proceSs for this
bill's committee and plenary
^p-
proval "as enshiined in the 1987
Constitution."
Villafuerte said he moved for
TIB 4228's withdrav'al on th6
belief the filing of the budget bill
on first reading was "premature"
considering that di. deparunents
and other agencies of the goYern-
ment have vet to {inish presenting
their respectirr budget proposals.
"The bill's withdra.xC sas not
an issue;it was ju-st a procedural
matter as the presentaticn of the
budget ptoposals of a-- gosern-
ment offices beiore the House
appropriations commiilee .have
yet to be completed at rlle time of
HB 4228's fitrng on 6rst reading,"
he said.
Villafuerte said the remaining
offices that have rer rr present
thet2020 budgetproposals
are ex-
pected to finish do-g so rs *re end
of this worlsreek ret "s,l hos can
the House appropriaurns com-
mittee submit I{B ^12:5 srrhout
of
having heard the preseo-.ation-.
all government agencbs covered br
the ptopos ed 2020 G-L\ riGerrerai
Appropriations Act)?"
He explained that after the exec-
utive depattrneot's submissi6n of
the Nmional Expenditure Program
(NEP), it is up to the House of
Represenatives horx- the GAB will
be crafted based on, emsngothers,
the respective budgetary proposals
of all government ageincies.
"It is the. iob of the House
to allocate or amend budgetary
items of the different offices and
different .programs and ptojects
based on the absorptive capacities
of governrnent agencies," he said.
.NO INSERTIONS...YET''
Villafuerte said there will be no
congressional "insertions" what-
soever in thiS process because the
allocation of specific oudays for
agencies, programs and projects
in the GAB arc prt and parcel
of the House's responsibility in
drawing up a national'budget as it
deems fit for a specific fiscal year
based on the absorptive capacities
of government officers."
"There is no approved GAB.
yet, so there is no such thing as
congressional insertions at this
stage," he said.
"Congressional insertions are
budgetary amendments that certain
lawmakers insert on the sly after a
consolidated GAB has alreadvbeen
passed b,v both chambers a post--
ratification prccess that the Supreme
Court had struck dovrn and r*fiich
certain House ieaders resorted m in
the 17th Congress and that le<i to
the delay in the approral of the 2.,t1 9
budgeg" Villafuene said.
As the Congressional Policr and
B.udget Research Departrnent has
pointed out in'A kgislator's Guide
in Analyzing the Nationai Budse{'
Villafuerte said that nes'espeodi-
ture items mar- be introduceci by
legislators duqg the budget au-
thorizatioq or deliberation process
"on condition that such ierns ds
not increase the size of &e bufuet
as originally submitted by *re Presi-
dent tg the Congtess."
"Certainly, the prematurc +iiing
of HB 4228 goes against *re sery
commitment of the House leader-
ship to tackle the2020 GAB - rod ,
all other legislative measures t,cr
,
that matter-in timely fashion and
with full transparency from the
l
committee to the plenary seges.
And besides, we have the whole of
September and most of October to
take up the national budgetbr[ so
there is no need for us to act oo it
v-ith undue haste," Villafuerte said.
SPEAKER HAD NO IDEA
The deputy speaker said the
House leadership intends to meet
Cayetano's tmgetto have the G-\B
passbd in the House before rle
lsthCongress takes its first recess
by end-OctoBer to give the Senete
enough time to pass its version of
this bill in December before fie
traditional Christmas break.
Villafuette said. upon learmng
that Cayetaho was made co-aufior
of HB 4228, he then asked the
Speaker if he khew about thrs de-
velopment but the latter ssld hi'n
he was not a'fr/are that he sas in-
cluded as one of the billt authors.
.This was what prompted him,
said Villafuerte, to mor.e oo the
floor that same dav to hare the
budget bill withdrarr:n and rerurned
to the appropriations commimee.
Villafuerte assured his fellow
lawmakers and the public *rat no
irrcguldriry* v'ill attend the House
deliberations on the 2A20 GAB,
ashe recalled the three imperatives
that Cayetano had set following
Malacafrang's submission of the
NEP to the House last month.