Truth body budget intact

MANILA, Philippines - The bicameral conference committee crafting the final version of the P1.645-trillion General Appropriations Bill for 2011 retained yesterday the P83-million budget of the Truth Commission that was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC) last week.

Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said the bicameral panel maintained the huge allocation even if it was unlikely the SC would reverse itself.

“What will happen if the body would be finally collapsed? What will happen to the money?” Magsaysay said.

She said President Aquino has the prerogative to align the fund if the commission is finally dismantled.

“We would not know yet where it (P83 million) would be realigned,” she said.

House committee on appropriations chair and Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, also head of the House contingent to the bicameral conference committee, admitted that the panel has not discussed the matter in its final meeting yesterday.

“Based on the bicameral discussion with the Senate, actually it was not discussed thus it stays there,” Abaya said.

“As you know, the decision of the SC is not yet final and executory, depending on the legal action to be taken by the Palace, so it is still there and I’m sure it (truth commission budget) will be put to good use for such purpose,” he said.

House minority leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman warned over the weekend that even if Malacañang would revise Executive Order 1 creating the Truth Commission, it is doubtful the SC would reverse its ruling because of “fatal constitutional infirmities” in the document.

Five justices who wrote separate concurring opinions ruled that Aquino breached the doctrine of separation of powers when he arrogated the sole prerogative of Congress to create public offices like the commission, Lagman said.

The justices, including those who dissented, agreed the Truth Commission as created by EO 1 constitutes a public office, he said.

Chief Justice Renato Corona and Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin all said Aquino exceeded his delegated authority to reorganize offices in the executive department because the commission is an entirely new office, not a result of a reorganization.

Government would not use reenacted budget

For the first time in 10 years, the government would be able to start operations with new budget and not a reenacted budget at the start of the fiscal year as President Aquino would be able to sign the P1.645-trillion General Appropriations Bill into law on Dec. 27, members of the bicameral conference committee said yesterday.

The committee, composed of representatives from the Senate and the House of Representatives, met for the last time yesterday to finalize the details of the reconciled version of the proposed national budget and report back to their respective chambers in the afternoon.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Senate finance committee, and Cavite Rep. Emilio Abaya, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, signed the bicameral conference committee report.

“We are supporting the President’s budget in 2011, we want to show support to the new administration, and hopefully and I’m confident that they (Aquino administration) will be able to deliver on the basis of the budget that they have presented and we have approved,” Drilon told reporters after emerging from the meeting held at the Philippine Coconut Authority office in Quezon City.

“Next year, depending on how they execute the budget, Congress can again be sympathetic or less sympathetic, but for this year we will support the President’s budget,” he said.

Abaya said the Senate was expected to ratify the P1.645- trillion GAB last night while the House would likely do the same tonight. “We’ll be signing one (bicameral conference committee) report. There should be no discrepancy, it’s just one document,” he said.

Drilon said the enrolled bill can be signed just after Christmas because of the printing and review by the Department of Budget and Management of the version that came out of the bicameral conference committee.

Members of the House minority bloc, however, accused the administration coalition of trying to hide controversial allocations and making questionable realignments after shutting out opposition lawmakers in the meeting when they should be represented in the bicameral conference committee by law to check on possible abuses by majority lawmakers.

The bicameral conference committee also added a P200- million pork barrel fund for Vice President Jejomar Binay but Abaya said it was not going to disrupt the budget.

The panel also added very little to the budget of state colleges and universities (SUCs), which suffered huge cuts in the proposed GAB, to fund salary increases as mandated by the Salary Standardization Law.

The committee cut the family health budget of the Department of Health by P300 million from P932 million. With Marvin Sy