‘House insertions in 2020 budget legal’

MANILA, Philippines — Albay Rep. Joey Salceda insisted on Saturday that the House of Representatives’ decision to make post approval insertions in the 2020 spending bill was legal and senators should just wait for the bill before making judgements.

“We appeal to the Senate to observe [intra]parliamentary courtesy and allow us to do our work first,” Salceda, one of the 37 vice chairs of the House appropriations committee, said in a statement.

“Their turn to scrutinize the budget bill will come when we formally transmit to them the printed copy of the 2020 (general appropriations bill) on Oct. 1,” he added.

‘Small committee’

Salceda also defended the House’s decision to form a “small committee” that inserted amendments to the House version of the spending bill even after it was approved on Sept. 20.

The 303-member chamber approved the bill, 294-6, in what House leaders lauded as approval “in record time.”

But Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the House cannot gloat over having “approved” the 2020 budget bill because a small committee was still inserting amendments days after its approval.

The senator divulged last week that the small committee was seeking to allot some P700 million to each congressman and P1.5 billion to each House’s 22 deputy speakers but the plan was junked after it was exposed in media.

P30B for districts

Instead, Salceda said that each congressman was allocated P100 million, amounting to more than P30 billion, for projects in their districts but this could not be considered pork barrel because they were all itemized.

Moreover, Salceda said that the act of forming a committee to make insertions even after its approval is legal and has been done since the Eighth Congress.

“This is for facility and for practical purposes. Not all 299 members of the House of Representatives can sit down together and finalize all the amendments to the bill,” he said.

“The tasking of a small committee to receive and resolve amendments after its approval is considered a legitimate act, for as long as lawmakers who sponsored the bill do not overstep the authority given to them by the body,” he said.

But the matter has spurred a word war between Lacson and several congressmen who continue to deny there is any pork barrel in the 2020 budget and the senator is only criticizing the House to make the Senate look good.

Lacson said he was not affected by congressmen’s sniping and was prepared to fight “to the death” to ensure there would be no pork barrel in the spending bill.

“Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte, party list Rep. Mike Defensor and other House members can take turns in maligning me … but I’m still going all in. Patay kung patay [It’s a fight to the death],” he said in a tweet.