P3.757-T budget ratified, awaits Duterte signature

The Senate and the House of Representatives ratified on Friday night the P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019, amid last-minute discussions on alleged insertions of public works allocations.

The document will be transmitted to Malacanang for the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte, which will end the period of government operation under a reenacted budget.

The Palace welcomed the development. 

"We are pleased that both Houses of Congress have reconciled their differences and made a unified approbation of the General Appropriations Bill. Indeed there is no obstacle we cannot hurdle if we put our hearts to it, with only the interest of the Filipino people in mind," presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo said the Executive branch will "thoroughly review" the spending bill "to ensure that all items comply with the Constitution and the law, and more importantly, they redound to the benefit of the Filipino people." 

He said this year's budget "lays the foundation for an inclusive growth and sustainable development."

The final vote at the Senate was 15-5, with Senator Panfilo Lacson, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Senators  Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV dissenting.

Lacson, in a privilege speech, called the new appropriation as "pork-ladden, cholesterol-rich," with many lawmakers getting allocation for projects that he said revived the pork barrel era.

"Today, pork barrel presents itself as an evil reincarnate, taunting and tempting us, hiding in the shroud of feigned public service. Pork proves that the irresistible lure of money moves men and women of power who should be the guardians of the public treasury, to devise cunning machinations to further their own selfish interests," Lacson said.

Hontiveros said when she voted ‘yes’ to the Senate version of the budget, she had hoped that the senators can fight for and retain a budget version that will satisfy the standards as provided for by the Supreme Court on the proper planning, allocation and disbursement of the nation’s coffers. 

“After all, our version had restored or provided more budgets for health and other social services. The events of the past weeks only showcased the brazen display of political bullying by a House that refuses to budge and explain the allocation of unconscionable amounts to certain favored geographic units without going through the usual evidence-based planning and budgeting process,” she explained her no vote.

Hontiveros said despite efforts to remove the anomalies, these remain in the budget. 

“This budget confirms the democratic deficit in our process that still allowed the old system of patronage and the lack of transparency in the budgeting process. I vote No, Mr. President, because from the start, the DBM handed Congress a deficient NEP, then the House of Representatives handed us an even more problematic Appropriations Bill,” she said.

She added many of them worked to address the problems, but their methods seem only to have added to the mad scramble for public funds, as another election season approaches. 

“This does not bode well for our common aspirations of transparency and accountability which our people deserve,” said Hontiveros.

Senator Loren Legarda, who sponsored the ratification of the bicameral committee report, said this year’s budget continues to put in its core what is essential: the basic needs of our people and our nation."

Legarda also thanked the finance committee vice-chairmen and members for giving their inputs and recommendations to make sure that the Congress will pass a budget that is pro-poor, pro-sustainable development, inclusive and pro- Filipino.

At the House of Representatives, the budget was ratified via viva voce, with the majority members dismissing the objections of the few lawmakers who objected to the approval.

Based on the bicameral conference report provided by the Office of the House Appropriations panel Chairman Ronaldo Andaya, Jr., the DPWH cornered the highest budget hike of P46 billion or almost half of the P95 billion increases that the bicameral panel made to the proposed 2019 budget of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Of the P46 billion increase in DPWH budget, P20.65 billion was proposed by the contingent from the House of Representatives, while P24.5 billion was proposed by the Senators.

The remaining P274 million was a common amendment by both the House and the Senate contingent.

Other agencies which were granted significant budget increases by the bicameral panel were:

• Department of Health (P17.5 billion) 
• Department of National Defense (P3 billion)
• State Universities and Colleges (P2.8 billion)
• Department of Labor and Employment (P2.6 billion)
• Department of Education (P2.5 billion)
• Judiciary (P2.19 billion)
• Department of Information and Communications Technology (P2 billion)
• Office of the Ombudsman (P1.8 billion)
• Budgetary Support to Govenrnment Corporations (P1.7 billion)
• Department of Interior and Local Government (P1.7 billion)
• Department of Justice (P1.3 billion)
• Assistance to LGUs (P1.2 billion)

It was Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro of Capiz who moved for the ratification of the proposed budget.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list Antonio Tinio objected to the ratification, but Deputy Speaker Mercedes Alvarez of Negros Occidental dismissed Tinio and went on to proceed with the voice vote with the yes vote winning.

"Yet again, the ratification of the 2019 GAA (General Appropriations Act) has been exposed as a sham," Tinio said.

"Bawal mag-object.  Ayaw nilang malagay sa record na may pagtutol sa dambuhalang pork barrel insertions na sinalaksak nila sa budget," he added.—LDF, GMA News