Amending Congress-approved budget is unconstitutional, says Diokno

Making changes in the already ratified 2019 national budget is unconstitutional, outgoing Budget Secretary and incoming Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said Wednesday.

"If individual X will simply change the composition of the budget on his own after it has been approved by the joint conference committee and both Houses of Congress, that is unconsitutional," Diokno said in a forum in Manila.

The outgoing Budget chief was asked to comment on Senator Panfilo Lacson's allegations that House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is amending the Congress-approved P3.757-trillion 2019 budget by allotting P25 million for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) for each of the districts of House members who elected her as Speaker in July last year.

If the accusations of Lacson were true, Diokno said an individual lawmaker who wants to change the composition of the budget by himself is "abuse of discretion."

"Probably, Senator Lacson is correct. That is abuse of discretion," he said.

In a separate statement, House appropriations panel chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. denied Lacson's claims by arguing that the House is making the budget more transparent and easy to scrutinize by "itemizing the appropriations therein fleshing out lump-sum funds, without departing from the approved specifications of the House-Senate approved budget."

Likewise, Diokno said there are no "lump-sum" items in the budget submitted by the Department of Budget and Management.

"I don't see any lump-sum items in our budget. I think they (lawmakers) are replacing what we put there originally with their own items," he said.

Though Congress has the power to amend the proposed budget from the Executive, the outgoing Budget chief emphasized that changes have to be vetted by both House of Representatives and the Senate.

"There is a process... individual legislators cannot change that. Changes has to be vetted by both House of Congress. That's the Supreme Court decision," Diokno said.

This year marked the first time since 2010 that the government operates on a reenacted budget.

On February 8, the upper and lower chambers ratified the 2019 General Appropriations Act, which will end the period of government operation under a reenacted budget. —KG, GMA News