MANILA, Philippines -- With the propriety of budget insertions now under public scrutiny, more senators admitted on Saturday that they too proposed amendments to the 2008 national budget but maintained these should not be frowned upon.
If this controversy has taught the Senate any lesson, it should be about making insertions not discussed on the floor of either the House or the Senate a more transparent process, many of them said.
In a text message, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. admitted he proposed amendments to the 2008 national budget in the bicameral conference committee, including funds to build facilities for the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance.
Senator Richard Gordon also admitted proposing a P100-million fund for an airport in North Cotabato to allow residents to transport their goods.
Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III also admitted proposing at least eight amendments, but only one was approved, which only included a simple clarification in the name of a road project in Cavite earlier approved by the House of Representatives. His seven other proposals, which included budget realignments, were all rejected.
Pimentel, Gordon and Aquino were among the eight senators who signed a resolution asking the Senate to probe the allegations of Senator Panfilo Lacson linking Senate President Manny Villar to an alleged P400-million redundant allocation for the C-5 road extension project in the 2008 national budget. The insertion was made in the bicameral conference, away from the public eye.
The controversy later brought the propriety of congressional insertions in the national budget to light, as Lacson pointed out the Senate had inserted projects worth P4 billion into the 2008 national budget. The Senate has also started its budget hearings for the 2009 national budget.
Pimentel said insertions are only bad if “done in secret and for private gain.”
“All my amendments were open and not hidden and for public purpose. Why don’t you ask Senator Enrile’s committee?” Pimentel said when sought for comment.
Enrile, chairman of the committee on finance, had detailed the more than P3 billion amendments he had approved, which benefited government agencies, hospitals and schools. But he said that it would be up to the other senators to publicly disclose their own insertions.
Senator Pia Cayetano earlier admitted she had proposed amendments worth P2.013 billion for the Department of Health but that only P415 million was included in the final budget.
Senator Mar Roxas, who has proposed a bill to criminalize “self-serving appropriations or conflict-of-interest appropriations,” also admitted proposing P650 million worth of amendments, of which only P150 million for two government agencies and for the Manila-Cavite Road was approved.
Roxas said that while his bill is pending, he would also “insist that all amendments, insertions, realignments and changes in the budget from what was submitted (to the Senate) be published online, indicating the proponent of each such change.”
Senator Francis Escudero also said he requested additional funding for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and the Pangasinan State University but these were “not entirely accepted.”
Escudero said, referring to the scandal rocking the Senate: “We should learn from this experience by demanding more transparency and triple checking of each item to minimize similar situations, mistakes or misunderstandings.”
Sought for comment, Majority Leader Senator Francis Pangilinan also said he had requested additional funding for the juvenile justice law and for some state colleges and universities.
Pangilinan said he hopes the controversy in the Senate “will result in greater vigilance on the part of stakeholders to ensure that taxpayers’ money is properly accounted for.”
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri also admitted proposing P30 million in funds for two roads in Bukidnon, his home province, where several towns still have no roads.
But he said: “I hope our colleagues and our people do not look too unkindly on insertions. We just have to make the process public and transparent.”
He said the controversy hounding congressional insertions in the national budget could hurt government agencies and provinces which depend on senators for additional appropriations.
He said that many agencies had already approached him to request for additional funding in the 2009 national budget, like the energy department, the University of the Philippines and a government hospital in Cebu.
The scandal will not discourage Senator Alan Peter Cayetano from proposing amendments to the 2009 national budget, however.
Cayetano, whom Enrile had named as among the senators who had not requested for any insertions in the 2008 national budget, said in a phone interview he would fight for a bigger budget for the Commission on Audit (COA).
“For me -- not to degrade other government agencies -- the COA has been doing a much better job than other agencies. I think we will send a better message if we give more funds to the COA,” Cayetano said, citing the agency’s uncovering of several scams in the government, like the recent rice scam.
