Intel fund issue could stall budget realignment
THE Bicameral Conference Committee has started reconciling discrepancies in the proposed P5.268 trillion General Appropriations Act of 2023, but the process is expected to take longer when confidential and intelligence funds are discussed.
“We have come to the final phase of the budget authorization process, the consideration and approval of the Bicameral Conference Committee on the disagreeing votes on House Bill No. 4488,” House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Elizaldy Co said in his opening statement during the panel’s meeting Friday.
the closed-door discussion, it was revealed that the House shifted roughly P77 billion in the budget measure, while the Senate moved a total of P215 billion for programmed allocations.
“Although there are disagreeing provisions, I believe it was about P215 billion worth of increase in budget items due to realignments,” House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman Stella Quimbo said.
Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said, “These are just preliminary items; all the detailed items will be discussed next week.”
Angara said only the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) continue to be a contentious issue.
Co reaffirmed that the House representatives to the bicam will maintain their position on the budget’s “non-negotiables,” which include the continued pandemic response and inflation control measures.
The House contingent to the bicam conference is made up of Co, Quimbo, and Representatives Ralph Recto, Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Manuel Jose Dalipe, Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos 3rd, David “Jay-Jay” Suarez, Neptali Gonzales 2nd, Jose “Joboy” Aquino 2nd, Raul Angelo Bongalon, Eleandro Jesus Madrona, Michael John Duavit, Marcelino Libanan and Edcel Lagman.
The Senate is represented by Angara, Lorna Regina “Loren” Legarda, Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano, Cynthia Villar, Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos, Sherwin Gatchalian, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros, Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay, Mary Grace Poe, Francis Tolentino, Mark Villar, Joseh Victor Ejercito, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero, and Jose “Jinggoy Estrada” Ejercito Jr.
The bicameral panel expects to approve the budget before December 17, when Congress goes on a Christmas break.
Alan Peter Cayetano called on the members of the bicameral conference committee to make the budget for 2023 responsive to the country’s effort to recover from the economic realities of the pandemic.
The committee members need to have a mindset of “really aligning the 2023 budget with the priorities of the Marcos administration as laid it out by the President in his SONA: economic recovery and food security,” Cayetano said.
He said he will continue pushing for budgetary alignments raised by senators during the plenary debates that focus on agriculture and public infrastructure.
Cayetano noted that the P40.842-billion budget for irrigation falls short of the P50 billion that the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) had requested.
He also pointed out that the budget for small-scale irrigation fell from P1.109 billion in 2022 to only P991.11 million in the 2023 budget.
“Irrigation is the lifeblood of our farmers, and it is important that we provide for them,” he said.
Cayetano said while the budget for farm-to-market roads increased from P7.485 billion in 2022 to 13.14 billion in 2023, the allocation is small when compared with what the country’s Asian neighbors are allotting.
“We in the Philippines have only completed 2,712 kilometers of farm-to-market roads while Thailand has 47,916 kilometers and Vietnam has 175,000 kilometers. Is it any wonder that we have to import rice from these two countries? Their farmers get far more support from their governments,” he said.
During the plenary debates, Cayetano criticized the infrastructure programs under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for its bigger allocation for maintenance than for new projects.
“If we add the budget for maintenance and rehabilitation, this is more than P200 billion, which is almost one third of the DPWH’s P737 billion budget. This is not a ‘Build Better More’ budget but a ‘Maintenance Pa More’ budget,” he said.