House bullying kept unreasonable amounts in 2019 budget —Hontiveros

The supposed "bullying" of the House panel at the bicameral conference committee on the 2019 national budget led to the retention of "unconscionable" or "unreasonable" amounts in this year's general appropriations.

Senator Risa Hontiveros made the remark on Sunday following the ratification of the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2019 that is supposedly riddled with "pork" or discretionary funds.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, Hontiveros said she had wanted to uphold the Supreme Court ruling that declared pork barrel unconstitutional by inserting additional budget for health and other social services instead of putting up discretionary funds.

"Sinubukan namin yan sa Senate version... kaya nagdagdag ng karagdagang budget para sa kalusugan, para sa ibang social services. Pero ang nangyari sa nakaraang linggo, nakita ang bullying ng House of Representatives dahil may mga tinukoy na tinatawag na unconscionable amount para sa ibang pinapaborang geographic unit," she said.

"Ayaw talagang umurong ng House, ayaw talagang ipaliwanag at iwasto ang ganyang alokasyon. May mga effort na tanggalin ang anomalyang yan, pero nanatili sa budget hanggang sa huli," she added.

This incident, Hontiveros said, only showed that there is a "democratic deficit" in the budget process that allows patronage system and lack of transparency to proliferate.

Despite the opposition of some lawmakers like Senator Panfilo Lacson, "discretionary funds" remained in the final version of the budget bill.

House Committee on Appropriations chair Rolando Andaya admitted that the P75-billion "insertions" of the Department of Budget and Management have been divided among senators and congressmen as "discretionary fund."

Hontiveros said issues in the national budget go way back to the National Expenditure Program that the DBM submitted to the House of Representatives.

The House, she added, then submitted an even more problematic appropriations bill to the Senate.

"Marami sa amin, sinubukan naming tugunan ang mga problemang yan pero mas lalong lang nagmadali ang iba na kumuha ng public funds lalo na papasok tayo sa election season. Lahat ng yan ay hindi magandang pangitain para sa pag-asa natin sa transparency at accountability alang-alang sa mamamayan," Hontiveros said.

Also, she pointed out that it is up to President Rodrigo Duterte to use his veto powers to remove the "pork" allocations in the 2019 national budget.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said that the president may use his veto power on the budget if necessary. —Erwin Colcol/LBG, GMA News