EDITORIAL - Eyes on the bicam

The last time the bicameral conference committee of the legislature hammered out the reconciled version of the General Appropriations Act for 2024, a provision was inserted to finance the latest incarnation of the congressional pork barrel, the unprogrammed appropriations.

The provision was invoked by the Department of Finance, currently headed by a former lawmaker, to impound billions in supposedly unused funds of all government-owned and controlled corporations. The GOCCs include the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., which was made to turn over P89.9 billion to the treasury in four tranches.

Two tranches were completed by PhilHealth before the Supreme Court stepped in and stopped further fund transfers while it deliberates on petitions challenging the impounding of GOCC funds.

These days the bicameral conference committee is again set to reconcile the versions of the national budget for 2025 approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate. People are focused on the final funding that will be allocated to the Office of the Vice President, which both the House and Senate have slashed by a hefty P1.3 billion, leaving the OVP with just over P733 million.

The P1.03 billion is being reallocated to two ayuda programs, the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations or AICS under the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients – a program under the Department of Health.

Apart from the OVP funding for 2025, however, the public must closely monitor the bicameral conference for last-minute insertions such as the one affecting PhilHealth, which critics describe as a “rider” that effectively amends sweepingly the charters of all GOCCs.

Then there is the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, which congressmen inserted into the budget of the DSWD. The Senate finance committee removed this AKAP allocation, explaining that it is not in the National Expenditure Program submitted by the executive to the legislature. Congressmen are lobbying mightily for the restoration of the appropriation, which critics believe will be used merely for patronage and campaign purposes by politicians.

Taxpayers will also hold lawmakers to their avowed goal of drastically limiting the allotment of confidential and intelligence funds to agencies mostly engaged in security, whose work is enhanced by secrecy in the utilization of people’s money. Preventing the misuse of public funds should start during the budget deliberations, with close attention given to the bicameral conference.