Lacson wants bicam hearing on budget open to public

Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday he wanted the bicameral conference committee hearing on the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 to be open to the public.

In an interview with Dobol B sa News TV, Lacson said plenary debates are open to the public but bicameral meetings are sometimes done behind closed doors.

The Senate and the House of Representatives convene the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the disagreeing provisions in a bill.

“Dapat transparent ito sa publiko pati hanggang bicam dahil doon sa bicam, ‘yan ang medyo exclusive, kami-kami lang nag-uusap diyan. Diyan nire-reconcile ang tinatawag na disagreeing provisions. Iba kasi ang version na ipapasa ng Senado, iba ang version na ipapasa ng House so kailangan ma-reconcile ‘yan, ‘yan ang bicam,” Lacson said.

The bicam meetings should be seen by the public because it is where other amendments are inserted or introduced, according to the senator.

“At ang nangyayari roon kasi hindi lang limitado sa version ng Senate at version ng House ang pinaguusapan. Minsan doon din pumapasok ang iba pang amendment na katakot-takot,” he said.

He further said the amendments introduced by each lawmaker should also be transparent to the public because many of them just do it very informally.

“Ang amendments sina-submit ito isusulat sa napkin, ibibigay sa chairman. Hindi naman dinadaan sa floor deliberation ang mga amendment especially individual amendments. Bagkus sinusulat na lang ito at sinusumite sa chairman ng finance o appropriation committee. Ganoon ang nangyayari. Minsan nga verbal na lang. Usapan na lang,” he said.

Lacson has been exposing “pork” items in the budget bill in the past years.

The senator said the lawmakers should post their individual amendments to their respective websites so the public can scrutinize it.

“I-post sa website ang lahat na individual amendments para makita ng publiko ano ang amendment na ginawa ng bawat mambabatas. ‘Yan ang malinaw na transparent para kung makalusot man, at least mabantayan ng publiko ang proyekto kung anong nangyari,” he said.

He said he did it last year because he was accused of introducing amendments that will benefit him.

“Ito ginawa ko noong nakaraang taon, lahat ng amendment ko kasi pinagbibintangan ako na ako rin daw may mga amendment. E totoo ‘yan, talagang lahat kami nag-a-amend pero gawin natin anong klaseng amendment? Para ba sa sarili kong proyekto? Hindi. Ginawa ko pinost ko sa website lahat ng aking amendment. Dapat ganoon din ang gawin ng bawa’t mambabatas,” he said.

Lacson would have wanted the Senate to adopt the 2020 proposed national budget approved by the House to fast-track its enactment and to prevent congressmen from making further amendments.

He said he found nothing irregular in the House-approved budget bill except for the more than P20 billion ‘unclear’ items in the National Expenditure Program.

But his colleagues rejected it because they also need to introduce amendments to the budget bill.

“We discussed the [schedule]. We cannot adopt. Many amendments necessary,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III said in a message to reporters after the all-senator caucus. —VDS, GMA News