Senators told: Stop interfering in House affairs

Leaders of the House of Representatives yesterday asked their counterparts in the Senate to observe at the barest minimum some “inter-parliamentary courtesy” and avoid interfering in their legislative functions, amid insinuations of unlawful pork barrel funds filling next year’s national budget.

“We call on our fellow lawmakers to observe inter-parliamentary courtesy and refrain from coming out with premature, baseless allegations. We appeal to them to wait for us to do our jobs first,” Deputy Speaker Pablo John Garcia of Cebu said.

Garcia and Deputy Speakers Henry Oaminal (Misamis Occidental) and Deogracias Victor Savellano (Ilocos Sur), also called on Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to stop issuing irresponsible and baseless statements on the 2020 budget.

In separate statements, Reps. Joey Salceda and Bong Suntay denied accusations from the senators that the House violated the Constitution in passing the P4.1 trillion appropriations measure.

Drilon and Lacson said congressmen failed to observe the constitutional processes in the budget approval in their decision to introduce amendments without the third and final reading approval of the budget measure.

“They should refrain from making premature statements that tend to put us in a bad light. How can they conclude that the (P4.1 trillion) budget bill contains questionable provisions when they haven’t even seen a copy of the document?” Oaminal asked.

Oaminal echoed Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in saying that the House-approved general appropriations bill (GAB) is aligned with the reform initiatives of the President and thus, is free of any “pork” or “insertions,” and does not allow any “parking” of funds.

He said Lacson and Drilon will have an opportunity to scrutinize the budget once it reaches the Senate.