Palace: No Congress ‘retaliation’ seen for Duterte veto in 2019 budget

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang is not expecting any “retaliation” from the House of Representatives after President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the questionable allotments in the 2019 national budget.

“We don’t see any retaliation from Congress. Wala namang personalan dito,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a forum on Wednesday.

“The President just did what he believed is correct and legal given the situation,” he added.

The Palace official added that they remain hopeful that Congress will still support pending priority measures of the Duterte administration.

The President signed the long-delayed General Appropriations Act of 2019 on Monday.

READ: Duterte signs budget, vetoes House changes

The approved national budget totaled P3.757-trillion, but the President vetoed certain provisions of it worth P95.3 billion in public works projects because those were not among his priority projects.

In a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo explained that the vetoed provisions were “unconstitutional.”

READ: Palace: Vetoed P95.3B in 2019 national budget ‘unconstitutional’

Senate President Vicente Sotto III signed the 2019 spending bill but with “strong reservations” and urged the President to veto its “unconstitutional” provisions.

Senator Panfilo Lacson previously said some lawmakers in the lower chamber made changes to the 2019 national budget even after it had been ratified. /muf