Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Vicente Sotto III is ready to ask President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the entire 2019 General Appropriations BIll (GAB) if indeed the Senate also made realignments even after it was ratified by Congress.
Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya Jr alleged that, like the House of Representatives, the Senate likewise had its own post-ratification adjustments amounting to P83.9 billion for their pet projects.
But Sotto vehemently denied this.
“83 what? I don’t even know what he is talking about,” Sotto said in a Viber message on Thursday.
“LBRMO and finance committee can swear to all that we did not touch anything after ratification except what was agreed in bicam,” he said.
LBRMO is the Senate’s Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office.
“The LBRMO for more than 30 years have never been remiss, inaccurate, much less corrupt in their work. All of a sudden in just this 3rd Regular Session of the 17th Congress they will err? I’d rather believe them,” the Senate leader said.
Sotto said he would ask the President to just veto the entire 2019 budget if the Senate indeed made the post-ratification amendments.
“Impossible,” he said of Andaya’s allegation.
“If there is even an iota of truth to that, then I will ask the President to veto the entire budget and we can pass a supplemental budget in the 18th Congress sans pork!” the Senate leader added.
Sotto branded Andaya’s fresh allegations as desperate attempts to convince the President not to veto the budget bill.
Despite “strong reservations,” Sotto signed the enrolled copy of the budget bill which was later transmitted to Duterte for signature last March 26.
In his annotation attached to the bill, he asked the President to consider vetoing the P75 billion “unconstitutional” realignments of the House of Representatives.
“The President may wish to consider disapproving these unconstitutional realignments, pursuant to his constitutional power to veto particular items in the General Appropriations Bill,” Sotto said.
The President has yet to sign the budget bill.
READ: Sotto signs 2019 national budget with strong reservations