Fate of 2021 budget hangs

Reenacted budget looms

MANILA, Philippines — Senators warned yesterday that the government will likely operate on a corruption-prone reenacted budget next year due to the lack of time for Congress to pass the proposed P4.5-trillion National Expenditure Program amid the leadership squabble in the House of Representatives.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the move of the House to immediately suspend session on Monday after passing the proposed 2021 budget on second reading meant that the Senate has only about four weeks to pass the same, and for both chambers to come up with a consolidated version for President Duterte’s signature before yearend.

The House was expected to pass the budget on third and final reading this week, or on Oct. 14 at the latest, and submit what is called the General Appropriations Bill to the Senate.

Under the Constitution, the previous year’s budget or General Appropriations Act is deemed recycled if the spending authority for the current year is not yet enacted.

“We’re really staring at the possibility of a reenacted budget,” Sotto said told reporters via video conference.

He said the various suggestions made by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano were hardly realistic.

Cayetano called Sotto on Monday night and explained what transpired in the House. At the start of the brief conversation, the Speaker seemed to be unaffected by the implications of the delay and told Sotto that the House would be submitting a budget bill by Nov. 16.

Sotto, however, balked and the conversation turned a bit tense.

“I asked him why not approve it on third and final reading?” Sotto said and Cayetano told him there were “amendments” coming from congressmen.

Sotto said he did not press further out of parliamentary courtesy to a co-equal chamber, but added House members should have thought of ordinary Filipinos when they did what they did as a new budget is needed to fund programs to fight the pandemic and revive the economy.

A reenacted budget frees up hundreds of billions of funds for Malacañang as it contains spending provisions no longer valid for the current year, giving rise to fears of corruption and abuse, especially with the looming national and local elections.

Sotto, however, said he trusts the Duterte administration not to abuse its discretion on spending.

Accept Senate version

He said one way to ensure the budget is passed on time is for the House to simply agree to what the Senate passes on third and final reading to obviate the need to convene the bicameral conference committee, which could take a week or a bit more.

Sotto, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Sonny Angara, who chairs the committee on finance, said that even with Cayetano’s proposed shortcuts, there is barely enough time for both chambers to pass the budget by December.

They said senators are not going to sacrifice poring over the budget to excise what they strongly believe to be billions of pesos in pork inserted by congressmen.

Lacson warned the budget for next year is “as good as reenacted.”

“There is no way for the Senate that this budget will be finished and for Malacañang to sign it before the year ends. That’s impossible,” he told reporters.

Lacson said there is no need for the President to call for a special session during the month-long break as Congress agreed to merely suspend session and not adjourn for the recess.

He also dismissed Cayetano’s suggestion to shorten the bicameral conference committee meetings, as the Senate is not going to turn a blind eye to the lump sum insertions made by the House.

Cayetano also called up Angara, who was worried about the time as Congress would adjourn on Dec. 19.

“But all is not lost. It’s (budget) not yet a casualty. Not yet dead somewhat,” Angara said.

Business group Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) is hoping for a timely passage of the 2021 budget following the suspension of session at the House of Representatives.

“We hope that the suspension will not delay the passage of the 2021 budget, which is even more critical now given the need to mitigate the

impact of the current crisis,” MAP president Francis Lim said in a statement.

He said the current situation is reminiscent of the 2019 national budget, the enactment of which was delayed due to the impasse between the Senate and the House.

With the budget approval delayed, the economy grew only 5.6 percent in the first quarter of last year, lower than the 6.5 percent growth registered in the same period in 2018.

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this sad situation will not repeat itself, otherwise our country’s economic recovery from the pandemic will be delayed to the further prejudice of our people,” Lim said.

Charter violation

Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco said Cayetano and his allies violated the Constitution in suspending House session for over a month after railroading the approval of the proposed P4.506-trillion national budget for next year.

Velasco, his allies and the Makabayan bloc said this yesterday as they slammed Cayetano’s move that was seen to preempt Velasco’s scheduled takeover of the speakership post on Oct. 14.

In a strongly worded statement, Velasco alleged that Cayetano violated Article VI, Section 16 of the Constitution, which requires both houses of Congress to get each other’s consent when adjourning session for more than three days.

“The haphazard declaration of the suspension of session contradicts and violates the provisions of the Constitution on inter-parliamentary courtesy,” Velasco stressed.

He pointed out that the swift approval of the budget bill on second reading without going through the required process – sponsorship, debate, amendments – and crucial discussion with government agencies” was “a flawed procedure.”

While the budget bill was already passed on second reading, it has to wait until resumption of House session on Nov. 16 before it could be passed on third and final reading. Only after final approval can it be forwarded to the Senate for deliberations.

This means the Senate will have one month at the most to pass the budget, before the two chambers go into a budget bicameral conference for ratification and submission to the President for signature.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. expressed confidence yesterday that the P4.5-trillion budget will still be passed on time.

“The President’s message is clear: we cannot delay the passage of the national budget,” he said.

While the House went on a break more than a week before schedule, Roque said the Senate can proceed with their scrutiny of the 2021 budget.

The Senate finance committee is also deliberating on the expenditure program simultaneous with that of the House.

This is nothing new, having been done in previous years to avoid unduly crunching budget deliberations in the Senate.

Roque pointed out the case of Tolentino vs. Secretary of Finance, where it was ruled that the Constitution does not prohibit the Senate from acting on a proposed legislative measure “in anticipation of its receipt of the bill from the House.”

Sen. Joel Villanueva said senators might have a very tight schedule in tackling the proposed 2021 national budget after the House suspended session, delaying the transmission of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) to the Senate.

He said the House vowed to transmit the GAB to the Senate on Nov. 17, or a month later than the original schedule on Oct. 15.

“We don’t know, can’t comment on the reason why the House did that,” Villanueva said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum yesterday.

With the given schedule, Villanueva said the Senate will tackle the national budget in the third week of November, leaving senators only two weeks to scrutinize the budget.

Back at the House, Velasco believed that the agenda of Cayetano was obvious: “Maneuvering of the House rules and calendar which is obviously an aftermath of Speaker Cayetano’s failure to secure the full support of President Duterte during our recent meeting and evade the Oct. 14, 2020 peaceful transition of House speakership to this representation based on the term-sharing agreement.”

Velasco’s allies – Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza and Quezon Rep. Helen Tan – also believed that the move by Cayetano was illegal and irregular.

Members of the Makabayan bloc also slammed Cayetano’s move.

House deputy minority leader and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate lamented how the national budget that will be crucial in the government’s coronavirus pandemic response was dragged into the speakership battle between Cayetano and Velasco. –  Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez, Louella Desiderio, Edith Regalado