The House of Representatives and the Senate on Thursday agreed to settle within 24 hours the differences between their respective versions of the proposed P3.767-trillion national budget, or the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
In an interview following the first day of the bicameral conference committee meeting on the proposed 2018 GAA, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. said lawmakers have decided to create two small groups to discuss the contentious provisions between the Senate and House versions of the proposed 2018 budget.
The two small committees will be headed by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of the First District of Davao City and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Loren B. Legarda.
Lacson said lawmakers have at least 24 hours to scrutinize the output of the small groups.
“There are several disagreeing provisions between the two versions of the 2018 budget that we have to reconcile,” Lacson said.
Among the contentious provisions in the 2018 budget was the proposed P50 billion under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Lacson has moved to cut in the Senate 2018 GAA version the said budget following the issues of right-of-way (ROW) acquisitions.
According to Lacson, ROW acquisitions are one of the sources of insertion and realignments by lawmakers. He said it is also one of the main reasons for underspending by the DPWH, saying “unless the issues involved in the ROW are resolved no civil works can commence.” Lacson said the ROW issue “accounts for the huge unused appropriations” in the annual budget due to continued unresolved rows in the construction of roads.
Another issue to be resolved is the P900-million allocation for Oplan Double Barrel under the 2018 budget of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The budget was approved by House of Representatives but was realigned by the Senate for the housing projects of members of the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). President Duterte is now considering the return to the PNP of his war against illegal drugs.
Moreover, Nograles said the Senate and House of Representatives have until December 13 to ratify the 2018 budget and submit it to President Duterte on December 19 for signature.
Congress is expected to go on a Christmas break on December 13.
“Ideally, we have to ratify this before Congress goes into a break on December 13. That way, [by] December 19, as scheduled, [it will be transmitted to the Palace for signature],” Nograles said.
The Senate approved on final reading the proposed 2018 national budget on Wednesday and the House passed its version on September.
‘Defend Senate version’
The Senate leadership, soon after passing the P3.7-trillion 2018 national budget, gave marching orders to a nine-member panel to “defend” their approved version of the annual money measure, when Senate and House members convene to hammer out a final version of the 2018 budget bill set for ratification before Congress adjourns for Christmas recess on December 14.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, a member of the bicameral panel, confirmed their marching orders to ensure adoption of the Senate version of the budget bill in upcoming marathon
bicameral conference committee meetings starting Thursday.
Aside from Ejercito and Legarda, other senators named to sit in the bicameral panel were Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, Minority Leader Frank Drilon, Sens. Cynthia M. Villar, Miguel F. Zubiri, Nancy S. Binay, Panfilo M. Lacson and Juan Edgardo M. Angara. “We [Senators] discussed the matter with the Senate leadership and the Senate’s representatives to the bicam, and it was agreed that the Senate panel will be defending our version,” Ejercito said.
For instance, he cited a Senate-approved amendment adding P900-million budget for the maintenance and operating expense (MOOE) of all police stations, initially intended for the administration’s Oplan Tokhang anti-drug campaign. Legarda confirmed an additional P500 million was realigned for housing projects for members of the AFP and the PNP.
Ejercito told Senate reporters that the amendment, suggested by Lacson, is expected to “increase per-capita allowances of each police officer.”
Under the Senate version, P51 billion was also allotted for the government’s free college, education program on top of the P10-million allocation for state universities and colleges.
At the same time, the Senate approved separate allocation of P327 million for the free wi-fi access to be provided by the Department of Information Communications Technology to State colleges and universities. For subsidized health services, the Senators approved P6.5-billion supplemental funding for PhilHealth, also known as the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., while allocating over P80 billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) conditional cash-transfer program for indigent beneficiaries, in addition to a separate allocation of P3 billion for DSWD centers’ operations all over the country.
Additional fund
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Thursday asked Congress for an additional P1.1 billion to help distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
In an interview with reporters at the House of Representatives, Bello said more money is needed to bring home OFWs, particularly in Middle Eastern countries. “We have requested for additional budgetary allocation because we are aware of the situations in Qatar, situation in the diplomatic relations with the Middle East countries, and also in case of Lebanon and [Kingdom of] Saudi [Arabia],” he said.
“Our labor attaché [in, Middle Eastern countries] have contingency plan which may have to be implemented in case the situation worsen, but right now, the situation is not critical but there is a cause to prepare for this,” Bello added.
The labor secretary said there are 240,000 documented OFWs in Qatar alone. “We also [have problem] on undocumented OFWs, so we are requesting to Congress to give us P850 million for possible repatriation expense, and another P200 million to P300 million for reintegration,” Bello said.
“We cannot afford to leave them unassisted so we need to provide them financial and livelihood assistance, although we’re not discounting the possibility of giving them employment,” he added. According to Bello, both chambers of Congress is “open” to the Department of Labor and Employment’s proposal.
“[But if they rejected our request] we have to rely on the resources of the department or assistance from the Office of the President,” he said.