2019 budget passed this week – Andaya
Delay dismays Rody; Diokno faces contempt
With President Duterte expressing dismay over the delay in the passage of this year’s P3.76-trillion budget, the head of the House appropriations committee gave assurance yesterday that the national outlay would be ratified within the week before Congress goes on recess for the election campaign.
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said his committee would approve the General Appropriations Bill tomorrow even if issues he had raised against Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno remain unresolved.
The bicameral conference can ratify the measure by Thursday or even Friday at the latest.
“It will be passed on Wednesday,” Andaya told The Chiefs last night on One News/Cignal TV when asked if the budget bill would be approved with only two session days left before the recess. “How? We’ll pass it painfully. We have to make severe cuts on other matters.”
Andaya said the executive branch would just have to live with the final results. “Sorry na lang kung ano ang magiging results. At any rate, the DBM has the tools to fix everything,” he said, referring
to the Department of Budget and Management.
The appropriations committee has issued a show-cause order to Diokno for him to explain his repeated snub of the budget hearings.
Andaya told The Chiefs that he did not expect Diokno to face the House tomorrow, which could lead to a contempt citation and possible detention of the budget chief in the chamber.
But Andaya said these matters can be set aside for now to pave the way for the ratification of the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“I can live without resolving those illegal acts even after Wednesday,” he said. He and his Senate counterpart Loren Legarda met yesterday morning “and we both committed that we will have it passed by Wednesday.”
Asked about President Duterte’s thoughts on the issue, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea replied in a text message: “He is aware of the delay and I am sure he is dismayed at the legislators’ inaction, which will delay his infrastructure projects.”
“We are still hopeful that the legislators will perform their constitutional duties as President Duterte and his economic team did by submitting the President’s budget on the day of the SONA or 30 days before the constitutional deadline,” Medialdea added, referring to the State of the Nation Address.
Congress goes on recess for the 2019 midterm polls on Feb. 9.
A bicameral conference committee is still deliberating on the budget, which has been dogged by several issues including the billions of pesos allegedly inserted in the government’s infrastructure outlay.
The budget department has denied any wrongdoing, saying adjustments in allocations are part of the budget preparation process.
The issues delayed the passage of the budget last year, forcing the government to operate under a reenacted 2018 expenditure program.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said lawmakers still have time to pass the budget. He said the Duterte administration does not need to pressure Congress to approve the budget.
“We’re still confident that it will be passed,” Panelo said. “We eagerly await the passage of that general appropriations bill. They know that it will bring adverse consequences if we have a reenacted budget, they know that.”
Medialdea said it would be up to Diokno to decide whether he would submit a report on last year’s savings to the bicameral conference committee.
Andaya, one of the lawmakers who questioned the alleged insertions in the 2019 budget, has demanded that the budget department submit the report. The Camarines lawmaker said the bicameral conference would not be able to approve the committee report on this year’s budget without it.
“The President doesn’t have to ask the member of the Cabinet, it’s his call, Secretary Diokno’s call,” Panelo said.
Medialdea said the approval of the bicameral conference committee report on the budget would not require the submission of the report on savings.
“I don’t think reporting on 2018 savings is a prerequisite,” he said.
Officials previously said a reenacted budget could cut the country’s growth by 1 to 2.3 percentage points.
‘Deceived’
The House leadership under Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been able to establish that Diokno has been deceiving President Duterte and Congress with regard to pork expenditures in 2017 and 2018, according to Andaya.
“We have documents showing that fund releases were made last December without the knowledge of Congress and without the signature of the President. These expenditures came from the savings in 2017,” Andaya said.
“Secretary Diokno cannot unilaterally release savings without complying with laws or without the signature of the President. Diokno has no option but to make public the savings generated from the 2017 and 2018 national budget,” he said.