Budget bill pullout prompts suspicions of pork

MANILA, Philippines — Suspicions of congressional pork insertions in the budget are once again ruffling feathers in the House of Representatives following last week’s unexpected withdrawal of the 2020 spending bill from plenary consideration.

The chair of the appropriations panel on Monday protested a colleague’s move to temporarily withdraw the bill proposing a P4.1-trillion budget for next year on first reading, warning that any changes to the original National Expenditure Program (NEP) might be construed as a “mangling” of the measure.

In a Sept. 2 letter, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab objected to Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr.’s withdrawal of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on Wednesday, the same day Ungab and other House leaders filed it.

“Needless to say, any alteration of the National Expenditure Program, or NEP, which is the version of your revised GAB, will surely raise doubts on our proceedings and the House will be questioned on why it will alter the proposed budget prepared by the executive department,” he told the deputy speaker for finance.

‘Insertions’

The GAB is prepared by the secretariat of the appropriations panel and is supposed to be “a faithful copy of the NEP,” said Ungab, who headed the same panel in the 16th Congress under President Benigno Aquino III.

In an interview with reporters, Ungab claimed Villafuerte wanted to make “insertions” to revise the GAB. “He had instructions to the appropriations staff that the GAB would be changed, which I think is wrong,” he said

Congressional insertions, described by critics as hidden pork, are a touchy subject in the House, considering how a similar issue led to the monthslong dispute that delayed the passage of the 2019 budget, as the House, the Senate and the Cabinet traded accusations over last-minute changes to the bill.

Senate leaders had accused the House of pork insertions in the 2019 budget by realigning public works and health funds to the districts of favored lawmakers. House leaders, however, said they only itemized all lump sums.

Reenacted budget

The feud led to a four-month delay that forced the government to operate on a reenacted 2018 budget in the early part of this year, setting back growth targets.

In April, President Duterte finally signed the 2019 budget law but vetoed portions of it containing P95.3 billion worth of budgetary items “inserted” by lawmakers.

For the 2020 budget, House leaders hoped to pass the GAB on third reading in the first week of October to avoid a repeat of last year’s debacle, but Ungab said Villafuerte’s move could “derail” its timely passage.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate was suspicious of the motivation behind the withdrawal. “It smells like the greasy patronage pork is being put into the oven,” he said, calling for a suspension of House budget deliberations in the meantime.

No withdrawal

But another opposition lawmaker, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, differed, saying there was no actual “withdrawal” of the GAB.

“There was only a change of referral from the committee on appropriations to the committee on rules for the time being since the budget briefings are [going on] and the plenary debates are yet to be scheduled,” he told the Inquirer.

“There will be no delay,” Lagman said.

But Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the House ways and means committee, said it could drag approval of the budget.

Based on the typical budget cycle, the executive branch submits the NEP to Congress for its deliberation and approval. The House leadership then files the GAB based on the NEP to formally start the budget process on the appropriations panel.

Any changes to the GAB are supposed to be made only during the period of amendments, which takes place after sponsorship and debates on the bill on second reading in plenary session, Ungab said.

Villafuerte disagreed.

In a statement on Sunday, the Camarines Sur lawmaker said it was up to the House, with its power of the purse, to craft the GAB by making changes to the NEP.

“It is the job of the House to allocate or amend budgetary items of the different offices and different programs and projects based on the absorptive capacities of government agencies,” he said.

Premature filing

Villafuerte insisted there were “no congressional insertions whatsoever in this process.”

He said he moved for the withdrawal of the bill “on the belief that it was a ‘premature’ filing of the budget bill on first reading, considering that all departments and other agencies of the government have yet to finish presenting their respective budget proposals at that time.”

“The bill’s withdrawal was not an issue; it was just a procedural matter,” Villafuerte added.

On Monday afternoon, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano met with Ungab and Villafuerte to discuss the disagreement.

After the meeting, his office issued a statement stating that the House leaders had “sorted out all issues as to the procedure and goals for the 2020 budget” and “threshed out any misunderstandings and confusion that have arisen during the budget deliberations.”

Cayetano said the 2020 GAB would be sent back to the floor for referral to the appropriations panel after the submission of the budget proposals on Tuesday.