Palace: PRRD may step in to break House, Senate impasse over budget

President Duterte may step in and persuade both Houses of Congress to break the impasse over the proposed 2019 national budget and finally submit it for his signature.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo raised this possibility as Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, turned the tables on the Upper Chamber after Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III bared the Lower Chamber's supposed 179 billion worth of realignments in the ratified spending measure.

He said the Senate has a 175-billion post-bicameral

realignment in the 13.757-trillion national budget for 2019, 125-billion of which is parked in the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Panelo said they believe the Senate and the House of Representatives would uphold the country’s welfare and agree on the budget proposal.

"Siguro if I will have my educated guess, the President will persuade para matapos na 'yan ano nila kung anuman [to resolve whatever situation they are in] but knowing the members of Congress, they always agree eventually," Panelo said during a Palace press briefing.

"I'm sure they will be agreeing eventually kung ano dapat silang gawin. All of them are concerned about the welfare of the country," he added.

GAA ghosts

“Senators are desperately looking for ghosts in the 2019 General Appropriations Act. The problem, they seem to find ghosts everywhere except at their own house,” Andaya said in a statement.

“If post-bicam itemization of lump-sum budget by the House of Representatives is unconstitutional or irregular, what about post-bicam realignment by the Senate of 175 billion in the national budget?” he asked.

He said the Senate should explain its 175-billion realignment to the ratified national budget.

“It is now the turn of the senators to explain to the public the P75-billion realignment made by the Senate after both chambers ratified the 2019 GAA. The realignment is also nowhere to be found in the bicameral conference committee report,” he said.

Andaya branded the realignment as “clearly parked pork.”

“Worse, unlike in the House of Representatives, there are no proponents for the Senate realignment. Meaning, the funds are parked somewhere in the national budget.

This is clearly parked pork,” he said.

“The senators may try to justify the realignment by describing them again as institutional amendments. But how can they describe the Senate's P25-billion realignment that was parked in the DPWH budget? Still institutional amendments?” the former majority leader asked.

He said of the 175-billion realignment, at least 1 25 billion was allocated for senators’ “pet projects” in the DPWH.

“I wish to make it clear. Of the 175-billion post-bicam realignment by the Senate, at least 125 billion was parked as additional fund for the senators’ pet projects in the DPWH. No details of the parked funds were contained in the bicam report,” Andaya said.

He said the Senate did not provide the list of proponent senators per project.

“Members of Congress will again be at a loss how the parked funds of the senators found their way to the congressional engineering districts. Lolobo na naman ang pondo ng mga engineering districts at sasabihin na sa mga congressmen iyon. Pero

sa totoo lang, mga senador ang naglagay ng additional funds sa mga distrito. (The budget of engineering districts will be bloated but this will be blamed on congressmen. But the truth is, the senators placed these additional allocations). We have no means of extrapolating the proponent senators for these projects since the Senate did not submit the individual names of the proponent per project,” he said.

He maintained that the House did its part in itemizing its amendments as agreed upon at the conclusion of the meeting of the Bicameral Conference Committee.

“The House, for its part, did its job. We itemized our amendments. The itemization was within the parameters of the Bicameral Conference Committee Report ratified by each chamber,” Andaya said.

“If lump-sums are not itemized, then that is illegal and unconstitutional. That was the main reason we scrutinized the budget proposal because there were insertions made without the knowledge of officials concerned. Now, it seems we go back to the same practice after all has been said and done,” he pointed out.

Impasse

Once submitted to the Palace, Panelo said the President is expected to review the budget measure and veto any provision that violates the Constitution.

"He will exercise his power to veto if he feels the budget to be given him does not conform with the Constitution. Otherwise, he will sign it into law," he said.

Panelo admitted that it was "ideal" if the government would not operate on a reenacted budget until August. But he said the government is prepared for a reenacted budget scenario even if some projects might be delayed.

Asked if the President will ask lawmakers to do away with the last-minute budget realignments, Panelo said: "It’s the President’s call. But as far as I know, he’ll just wait for the enrolled bill to be submitted to him."

"I’m sure they will agree - the House and the Senate - dahil nag-uusap naman sila na [because they are already discussing the matter]," he said.