Nograles vows to allocate 2018 budget ‘where it matters’

Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, chairman of the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee, vowed to allocate funds where it matters most as the committee wrapped up the final week of deliberations on government agencies’ proposed budgets for 2018, which total P3.767 trillion.

“It was a fruitful two weeks of deliberations. We are now ready for pre-plenary hearings next week and plenary debates on Sept. 4,” Nograles said.

The senior administration lawmaker said all the agencies’ budget hearings have now been terminated.

Nograles, nephew of President Duterte, said the proposed 2018 national expenditure program is still on track to be signed into law on or before Nov. 15.

They have exercised their oversight function on how government funds were used during previous appropriations, according to Nograles.

The deliberations were also used as an opportunity for the Nograles panel to look for and identify viable sources of funds to finance Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

Nograles said the budget deliberations will now go to the pre-plenary stage where all 294 members of Congress will be given the chance to present proposals on how various government agencies can better serve the people.

Nograles’ younger brother, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Rep. Jericho Jonas Nograles, earlier took the Department of Transportation, which has a P73.8-billion budget, to task, noting the perennial problematic condition of the country’s railway systems.

“Why should we continue the BURI contract despite it being unsigned, overpriced, despite the fake parts, the underperformance, despite all the Commission on Audit reports received by the (Department of Transportation), despite all the lies that have been presented to Congress?” he asked, referring to the Busan Universal Rail Inc., maintenance provider of Metro Rail Transit 3.

In reply, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Undersecretary for Railways Cesar Chavez bared that they have endorsed the “burying” of the BURI contract, and that the matter is now in the hands of their legal affairs division.

During budget deliberations of the Department of Justice, lawmakers also grilled Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II regarding the recent spate of killings of drug suspects in police operations, particularly in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Aguirre, who defended his agency’s proposed P17.26 billion budget, was told of the need to look deeper into the circumstances of the death of Kian Loyd delos Santos, the 17-year-old Grade 11 student in Caloocan City allegedly killed by policemen.

Duterte has since condemned the killing and vowed to go after the abusive cops.

Nograles reminded the heads of different agencies not to take for granted the budget deliberations as the House will always have the final say on how much fund they will get.

He directed this clear message in particular to the Commission on Elections after its chairman, Andres Bautista, skipped hearings. Comelec’s proposed budget for 2018 is P16.15 billion.

“This is just a proposal that you’re presenting to us and the power of the purse still belongs to Congress. So if you believe that you have adequately defended budget, then it’s up to us to do what we believe is right in terms of how much you should be allocated,” Nograles said.

The Department of Agriculture, led by Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, surprised House members after he asked for an additional P53.12 billion on top of their proposed budget of P60.63 billion.

The additional funding is meant for the construction of more farm-to-market roads, which Piñol earlier said would have a huge backlog even after Duterte finishes his term in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President (OP)’s and the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s budgets, P6.03 billion and P443.946 million, respectively, were approved by the committee in mere minutes, although this has been a House tradition of sorts.

The OP’s 2018 budget is 70 percent lower than its 2017 appropriation of P20.1 billion, while the OVP’s is 3.58 percent up from its approved 2017 budget of P428.6 million.