SENATE leaders are inclined to slash the reported P13.5-billion budgetary insertions made by the House in the 2008 budget bill when the bicameral conference committee gets back to work to reconcile conflicting provisions in the Senate and House versions of the annual money measure, according to Senate President Manuel Villar Jr.

“Masyadong malaki iyan. Babawasan siguro iyan [It’s just too big. We may have to cut it down],” Villar said, adding that while the senators recognize the need for House members to provide additional funds for projects in their congressional districts, “masyadong malaki iyan at hindi naman siguro pwedeng tanggapin lahat [It’s just too big, and we cannot just accept all of it].”

In a statement, Villar voiced confidence that the Senate and House panels in the conference committee, co-chaired by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Rep. Edcel Lagman, will be able to resolve differences in their respective versions of the proposed national budget, including the controversial provision on the alleged pork barrel insertions.

“We are already running on a reenacted budget, but I am sure the bicameral conference committee in their meetings will be able  to reach an agreement so we can approve this year’s General Appropriations Act,” said Villar.

He is relying on Enrile and Lagman to come up with a reconciled final version of the budget bill shortly so that Congress can submit it to the President for signing into law by next month.

But Villar, at the same time, backed further scrutiny by the conference committee of the huge appropriations in the budget bill, particularly the alleged P13.5-billion increase in congressmen’s pork barrel funds.

“Mabuti na rin at naglalabasan ang mga problema na iyan. Syempre kapag napapag-usapan ang mga pork barrel na ganyan, nagkakaroon ng mga pagkakataon para bawasan iyong dapat bawasan at ang mga nakakahiyang probisyon ay tanggalin [It’s good all of these problems came out. Of course, when discussions turn to the port barrel, there comes a chance to slash what should be slashed and remove embarrassing provisions],” Villar said.

This developed as former senator Frank Drilon warned Congress that the 2008 budget bill may be declared “unconstitutional,” unless the House contingent withdraws its “P13.5 extra pork barrel” during the scheduled bicameral conference committee meeting set to resume this week.

He said Representative Lagman, who chairs the House appropriations committee, should “stop insisting” that the extra P13.5-billion pork barrel they have inserted did not increase the President’s budget.

“No less than Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya had publicly stated that President Arroyo may veto the 2008 budget measure for being unconstitutional because the House effectively increased it by P8.3 billion,” Drilon said, adding, “It appears that somebody was caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.”

According to him, Article 6, Section 25 (1) of the 1987 Constitution specifically states that “Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President for the operations of the government as specified in the proposed national budget.”

Andaya earlier insisted that Malacañang had no hand in the P13.5-billion pork barrel “insertions” made by the House that Drilon discovered.

In a statement, Drilon dared both Malacañang and Congress to waive their pork allocations in the 2008 budget to allow the government to suspend the 12-percent value-added tax on oil products without increasing the budget deficit, and at the same time provide relief to consumers faced with rising world oil prices.

THE country’s poor may not only be poor by circumstance but by choice.

In his online column “Statistically Speaking,” National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) secretary-general Romulo Virola said poor and uninformed choices of Filipinos to have more children worsens poverty in the country.

THE South Korean government has signed a two-year framework arrangement with the Philippines worth $300 million and a $20 million-worth Compact Loan Facility to be used for loans for various infrastructure projects of the government.

SENATE leaders are inclined to slash the reported P13.5-billion budgetary insertions made by the House in the 2008 budget bill when the bicameral conference committee gets back to work to reconcile conflicting provisions in the Senate and House versions of the annual money measure, according to Senate President Manuel Villar Jr.

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has called upon the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Tourism about changes in existing regulations of the Immigration to conform with the changing times and to encourage more foreign investors and tourists to come into the country.

SARA, Iloilo—Seeing better economic opportunity in a new corn seed technology, farmers in this chiefly agricultural town are now expanding to the upland areas, slowly turning the province into a major corn producer.

A SPANISH Chamber of Commerce Inc. member-business has bought the franchise of an American restaurant despite the latter posting declining sales.

THE United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) thumbed down the measures implemented by Asian governments, including those made by the Philippine government, to help exporters cope with weaker demand and stronger currencies.

Fortune Life Insurance Co., a Filipino-owned corporation and one of the leading insurance companies, is now accepting payment from its regular policyholders through the Banco de Oro On-Site Payment Facility.