Sotto dares House to sign 2019 budget bill
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Vicente Sotto III dared the House of Representatives on Monday to sign and submit the printed copy of the 2019 national budget if the latter’s amendments are indeed legal.
The Senate and the House have traded allegations over the alleged changes made in the budget even after they ratified its approval.
Sotto claimed that the House made P79 million worth of realignments in the budget while House appropriations committee chairperson Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. alleged that the Senate realigned P75 million.
Sotto vehemently denied Andaya’s allegation.
“The Senate did not touch anything contrary to what the House appropriation chair is saying na Senado rin daw. Hindi…” Sotto told reporters on Monday.
“I have the assurance of the chairman of the committee of finance, the assurance of the LBRMO and even Sen. (Panfilo) Lacson that we did not touch anything after we ratified it on the floor,” he added.
The chairperson of the Senate committee on finance is Senator Loren Legarda while LBRMO stands for Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office.
“Hindi, hindi totoo yun. Lahat noong ginagawa nila sa House, binibintang nila sa amin. I’m saying nga, we assure you not a single centavo was touched after we ratified,” Sotto said.
If indeed there was nothing illegal with the amendments made by the House, Sotto then said the lower chamber should sign the budget and transmit it to the Senate.
“Kung totoo yung sinasabi nila na may ginalaw ang Senado at sila ay indirectly umaamin na may ginalaw sila…kung ganun ang sinasabi nila at ang tingin nila ay legal yung ginawa nila, e di pirmahan nila . I-submit nila sa amin dito,” he said.
“That’s the challenge. Pirmahan nila, papirmahan nila sa Speaker yung sinasabi nila at ipadala nila sa akin.”
Asked again about the alleged lump sums that Andaya said the House had to itemize, Sotto said this should have been done at the bicameral conference committee or even before the budget was ratified.
The Senate and the House have already ratified the budget but it has yet to be transmitted to Malacanang for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.
Since January, the government has been operating based on last year’s budget amid the 2019 national budget impasse. / gsg
