House reopens 2021 budget delibs, recalls 2nd reading approval

A week after it suspended its sessions against the backdrop of a tense speakership row, the House of Representatives on Tuesday reopened its plenary deliberations on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.

At 3:24 p.m., the chamber resumed its session to continue the plenary debates on House Bill 7727, or the 2021 General Appropriations Bill.

Newly elected Speaker Lord Allan Velasco himself called the special session to order.

The chamber recalled the approval of the 2021 GAB on second reading, and reconsidered the termination of the periods of amendments and of debates.

This means that the House can go back to the interpellation of the proposed budgets of various government agencies after it was abruptly terminated last week.

The resumption of the session came around three hours after the House ratified the election of Velasco as Speaker and Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano's announcement that he is tendering his "irrevocable" resignation as the leader of the chamber.

A total of 186 lawmakers voted to ratify Velasco's election after the same number of lawmakers elected him initially during a gathering of his supporters at Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City on Monday.

The continuation of the budget deliberations was made possible after President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 1027 calling for a special session of the House “to resume the congressional deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget and to avoid any further delays on its prompt passage.”

The special session will begin on Tuesday, with the expected approval of the budget on third reading on Friday this week.

Cayetano last week moved to terminate the plenary deliberations on the 2021 GAB without finishing the scheduled interpellation of at least 20 government agencies.

The measure was then immediately approved on second reading, and the sessions were suspended until November 16.

Velasco's allies believed that the move was meant to preempt the expected turnover of the speakership on October 14, as there could be no formal proceeding to transfer the position to the Marinduque lawmaker without a session.

The infighting at the House did not sit well with the President, and he warned Cayetano and Velasco to resolve the leadership row and make sure that proposed 2021 budget is passed on time.

Velasco, in his speech on Monday, vowed the "timely, legal and constitutional" approval of the proposed 2021 budget. — BM, GMA News