(FILE) Sen. Vicente “TIto” Sotto III. INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA, Philippines — “Leave us out of your political warfare.”
An exasperated Senate President Vicente Sotto III said this Thursday as the speakership feud in the House of Representatives has purportedly hampered the prompt passage of the country’s budget for 2021.
“Simple lang eh, ‘wag niyo kaming idamay sa political warfare niyo, ‘wag niyong idamay ang taumbayan,” Sotto said in an interview over Teleradyo.
(It’s simple, leave us out of your political warfare, don’t involve the people.)
“May problema kayo sa leadership, bakit niyo kami idadamay? Bakit niyo kami sisisihin? Ang collateral damage ang taumbayan. Political warfare, sila na lang ‘yun, ‘wag nila kaming idamay,” he added.
(You have problems with your leadership, why should we get involved? Why will you blame us? The collateral damage of your political warfare is the Filipino people. They should settle it among themselves, leave us out of it.)
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano earlier said a possible delay in the 2021 national budget’s passage will no longer be the fault of the House but of the Senate’s.
“Ang pagtatrabaho namin inaabot kami ng mga alas-onse, ala-una ng madaling araw. Wala naman kaming hinahabol pero binubusisi namin…pagkatapos ngayon kami may kasalanan? P*tcha,” Sotto said.
(Our work leads us to finish late at night, even way past midnight. We are not going after something but we really just scrutinize measures. And now they’d say it’s our fault? Damn.)
Earlier, Cayetano and his allies moved for a premature congressional break without the final approval of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2021. The House suspended the session until November 16.
READ: Budget ‘as good as reenacted’ due to Cayetano’s push for early break – senators
Cayetano claimed their action would only result in a one-day delay in the budget process.
But Sotto disputed this, saying the House was originally set to approve the GAB on final reading and transmit it to the Senate before the congressional break on October 17 so the upper chamber can have enough time to scrutinize it. The congressional calendar states that Congress will be on recess starting October 17, not October 6.
Sotto pointed out that when the Senate receives the GAB approved by the House, it would still need to go through the upper chamber’s sub-committees.
These sub-panels, he said, would then need to come up with a committee report based on the GAB submitted by the House, which will then be reported out to the Senate plenary for deliberations.
“Mahigit 30 ang departamento, 100 ang attached agencies. Mga apat o limang makakapal na libro na tig-po four or six inches thick ang laman niyan… ‘Di naman kami katulad nung iba na pikit-mata na pipirma o pikit mata na magpapalusot,” Sotto said.
(There are over 30 departments and 100 attached agencies. The budget is four to five six-inch thick books…We are not like the others who just blindly sign and approve anything under the budget without scrutinizing it.)
“Lahat ng mga senador, ang ugali niyan pagaaralan ‘yon. So kung ibibigay samin ng November 17, isang linggo pa lang ‘yung printing, pagkatapos ‘yung committee report ipe-prepare pa lang. Papaano mong sasabihing isang araw lang ang delay?” he then pointed out.
(All senators have the attitude of studying all of it. So if you will give us the GAB on November 17, one week will be used for printing and then the sub-panels will still have to come up with a committee report for it. How can you say it will only be delayed for one day?)
“Panong kami ang may kasalanan? Eh ang talagang usapan eh dapat ‘yun first or second week [of October] natanggap na namin,” he further stressed.
(How could it be that it’s our fault? When what has been agreed upon was that the GAB should be submitted to us by the first or second week of October.)
Sotto also decried Cayetano’s recent pronouncements as a clear attempt to blame the Senate.
“’Wag nila kaming idamay at ‘wag nila kaming pagbibintangan na made-delay ang budget dahil samin, eh delayed na sila. ‘Di pa nila sina-submit samin,” the Senate leader said.
(They should leave us out of it and they should not pass the blame on us because the passage of the budget is already delayed on their side. They have not submitted it to us.)
Sotto then revealed that funding for recovery programs amid the pandemic will not be released next year should the national government be forced to operate on a re-enacted budget.
“’Yung para sa 2021 budget, nakatuon para sa pandemic, sa mga Build, Build, Build, sa recovery ng ekonomiya, sa health ng mga kababayan natin na wala sa 2020 budget,” he said.
(For the 2021 budget, it is focused on the pandemic response, Build, Build, Build, economic recovery, and health services for Filipinos, which are not in the 2020 budget.)
“Ang daming unemployed na Pilipino, dito sa [proposed 2021] budget, ina-address natin ‘yan. Pagkatapos isasali niyo kami sa politcal warfare niyo? Kayo na lang,” he added.
(There are a lot of unemployed Filipinos, in the proposed 2021 budget, we are addressing that. And then you will drag us into your political warfare? Just deal with that on your own.)