Camarines Sur 1st District Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. Photo by Pathricia Ann V. Roxas/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – The bicameral conference committee (bicam) on the 2019 national budget on Monday agreed to “re-prioritize” some portions of the proposed budget which the Senate has branded as an “institutional amendment” and “not pork.”
The Senate-House conference has temporarily set the amount to be “re-prioritized” at P50 billion from the total P3.8 trillion budget.
Some senators and congressmen convened their second conference on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City on Monday.
Both contingents would consult their colleagues on whether the amount would be enough to accommodate individual amendments and institutional requests of government agencies.
The bicam has yet to identify from which programs the fund would be deducted and to which this would be realigned.
Amendments
House appropriations panel chair and Camarines Sur 1st District Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. explained that the Senate has around P190-billion worth of amendments in the GAB, while the Lower House has P50 to P60 billion.
Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, has clarified that the P189.2 billion amendments of the Senate were requests from various government agencies.
“Let me just clarify please, that the Senate report on P189.2 billion is not all infrastructure. In fact, P68 billion of that are unprogrammed appropriations and much of that are requests of agencies, actually all (are requests of agencies),” Legarda said, noting that her vice chair, Senator Panfilo Lacson, introduced almost P50 billion of the amendments.
“I hope everyone understands that we are besieged by agency requests until midnight last night and calls and texts, and I hope this would not be misconstrued as my individual amendments…” Legarda added.
She said she doesn’t consider these as “pork barrel” as long as it’s a “vetted” “institutional request” or requested by government agencies.
“I don’t consider that pork… as long as there is an institutional agency request, it has been vetted by the regional development councils…” she said.
Lacson, in turn, clarified that an example of the institutional amendment he introduced and adopted for the Senate is P4 billion for the “activation of an infantry division” which was requested by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense.
‘Insertion’
In a separate interview, Andaya dubbed the P50 billion as an “insertion of the institution.”
When asked if this could be considered pork or lump sum appropriations which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional in 2014, Andaya answered: “Insertion ng institusyon, ganun na lang sabihin natin.”
Legarda earlier said they hope to finish the conference by January 30 and ratify the proposed expenditure plan February 6.
On the part of the House, Andaya said they would prioritize Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s requests such as P10 billion for the Department of Health, P20 billion for the Department of Agriculture and P350 million for housing.
He added that their redistribution would “depend on (the) needs of the congressional districts.
“We want an equitable sharing, hindi naman equal, equitable…” Andaya added. /gsg