By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Bernadette D. Nicolas
HOUNDED by allegations of pork barrel-like insertions in the 2019 budget, the House of Representatives is turning the heat on the Executive. It has strongly required the appearance of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in a question hour on Tuesday to answer lawmakers’ queries related to deliberations on the proposed P3.757-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA).
This, after the lower chamber adopted last week House Resolution 2307, which requires the “appearance and participation of Department of Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno in the Question Hour regarding the 2019 election budget.”
HR 2307 was filed by Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez of Quezon. Under the resolution, the proposed 2019 GAA may be considered an election budget, considering the forthcoming midterm elections.
Suarez noted the importance of Diokno’s appearance in the question hour, as “issues regarding budget insertions arise, thereby raising the possibility of having a reenacted budget for 2019.”
Suarez said the summons to Diokno is part of its congressional “powers to conduct legislative inquiries and exercise oversight functions.”
“Pursuant to Article VI Section 22 of the Constitution and Rule XVII Section 124 of the House Rules of the 17th Congress, either House may request heads of departments to appear and be heard by such House on any matter pertaining to their departments, invoking its power to conduct question hour,” Suarez said.
According to Suarez, pursuant to the Rules of the House, Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. subsequently sent Diokno a letter, informing the secretary that “In consonance with Section 22 Article VI of the 1987 Constitution and pursuant to the adopted House Resolution, you are hereby required to appear at the Plenary Session Hall on December 11, 2018 at 3 p.m. to answer questions from the members of the House of Representatives.”
Andaya also sent Diokno the proposed questions to be propounded during the question hour. “Further, you are also required to bring all pertinent documents such as disbursements, releases and office memos addressed to all government offices, among others,” Andaya added.
As practiced by previous Congresses, the question hour is known to be a period of confrontation initiated by the Legislative to hold the Executive department, particularly Cabinet secretaries, accountable for their acts and the operation of the government.
This is the first time that Congress, under the leadership of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will hold a question hour.
Pork barrel
Last week, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. said a congresswoman from Pampanga and a congressman from Camarines Sur had the biggest budget insertions in the 2019 budget, with the Pampanga district getting P2.4 billion worth of projects while P1.9 billion was allocated for the Camarines Sur district.
Speaker Arroyo represents the second district of Pampanga and Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. is from Camarines Sur.
In a recent press conference, Andaya said Arroyo only ranked 100th among 292 House members in terms of highest congressional allocations under the 2019 national budget.
Andaya said it was not Arroyo but the House Committee on Appropriations that is responsible for the additional allocations in Pampanga and Camarines Sur in the House version of the proposed 2019 P3.757-trillion national budget.
Diokno hopeful on timeline
Meanwhile, Diokno is still pinning his hopes that the Senate can finish its job this week to avoid the possibility of government operating under a reenacted budget next year, even though some senators, including the Senate President had expressed doubts that the proposed P3.757-trillion budget for 2019 will be passed before year-end.
Diokno argued that the Senate is targeting to finish its plenary debates on General Principles on Monday (December 10) and he also expects the Senate and the House to conduct the bicameral conference committee meeting around December 13 or 14 after the Senate passes the money measure on second and third reading.
Congress is set to adjourn for Christmas break on December 15.
“They have approved most of the agencies, so they are working on finishing it [this] week,” Diokno said in an interview with the BusinessMirror.
The budget chief explained that this is possible since the Senate has been conducting budget deliberations since July.
He expects the printing of the needed budget documents from the Senate will be done around December 21.
After this, the Department of Budget and Management will review it for one week. It is also during the DBM review that the President may exercise his line item veto power. “So either on the 30th or the 31st [of December], we will be able to have the budget signed,” he said.
The Senate just started its plenary deliberations on the budget on December 4, and Senate leaders had complained that they were being put on the defensive about the lateness of the outcome, when in truth the House had the budget since it was turned over by the Executive right after the President delivered his third State of the Nation Address (Sona).
Sen. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri also said last Friday that the possible joint session to tackle President Duterte’s proposal to extend martial law in Mindanao may also further delay the passage of the 2019 national budget.
Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III has also said last week that it is “not physically possible” for the Senate to meet the Executive branch’s request to pass the budget before year-end, since printing alone takes days and they still need to have a bicameral conference committee meeting.
He blamed the House for delaying the transmittal the budget to the upper chamber.
Moreover, Lacson also said last week the Senate would not still have enough time to discuss 271 items on the agenda, including agencies and offices, even if they worked for 24 hours in three days.
Still, Diokno believes this would not get in the way of passing the budget on time, as this could still be threshed out during the bicameral conference committee meeting.
Earlier, the DBM had appealed to some senators to fast-track the budget deliberations, warned officials of the repercussions of operating under a reenacted budget.
Diokno said Congress’s failure to approve the 2019 budget will affect the country’s economic growth for the first and second quarters as there will be a five-month implementation gap for the infrastructure projects.
However, he clarified this will mainly cover the small projects, such as roads and school buildings and this development will not affect the big infrastructure projects which are covered by the Multi-Year Obligational Authority.
Although Diokno did not provide a figure, he said there will likely be a slowdown in the capital outlays for the first two quarters next year.
Nonetheless, they are still confident the government will still be able to meet their GDP growth target of 7 to 8 percent for next year.
1 comment
Anak ng siopao itong mga nasa kongreso. Mag insert sila ng last minute item na di naman sinubmit ng exécutive branch ng gobierno pagkatapos ipapatawag nila ang DBM para alamin kung bakit nila nilagay ang item na sila rin Lang ang may kagagawan? Ginagago ninyo naman masyado ang taong bayan! Naka high ba kayo sa Shabu?