Cayetano apologizes to Senate for remark on possible budget delay

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday apologized for saying that it would not be the House’s fault if the approval of the proposed 2021 national budget is delayed, leaving the Senate on the receiving end.

Cayetano said he called up Senate President Vicente Sotto III to extend his apology to the Senate, explaining that he was not passing the blame to the Senate should there be a delay in the budget approval.

The Speaker said what he was simply implying is that it would not be the fault of the House if there is a delay. He likewise said he is not blaming the Executive branch for transmitting the budget a month late, considering that there is an ongoing pandemic.

“Ngayong tanghali, I called up Senator Sotto and I asked him if he can extend to the whole Senate that I apologize na ang dating ay kini-criticize ko o pinapass ko sa Senate kung may delay,” he said in a Facebook live.

(This noon, I called Senator Sotto and asked him if he can extend to the whole Senate that I apologize that my statement came off as a criticism or a passing of blame to the Senate if there is a delay in the budget.)

“Sabi ko kay Senator Sotto, pasensya ka na kung ganyan ang dating, I apologize kung ganyan ang dating, pero kung titingnan ‘yung context hindi ganun ‘yung context,” he added.

(I apologized to him that it came off that way but if you look at it, that was not my context.)

“Kung magkakaroon ng reenactment, it won’t be on the part of the House because we made sure that one day [delay] lang ang pinag-uusapan,” he further said.

(If the budget is reenacted, it won’t be on the part of the House because we made sure that it will only be delayed for one day.)

Cayetano once again clarified that the lower chamber will only be delayed for one day in its transmission of the House-approved proposed budget for 2021 to the Senate. It aims to approve the budget on final reading on Nov. 16 and transmit it to the Senate on Nov. 17.

He also said he extended his apologies to Senator Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate committee on finance, for the “inconvenience” the late transmission of the budget would cause.

He said he is sure that the Senate will work hard on the budget bill.

In a text message to reporters, Sotto said he has accepted the apology of Cayetano and vowed that the Senate would do its best on the time that they have.

Earlier, the House and the Senate seem to be passing the buck in the passage of the 2021 national budget, with both chambers claiming that they are not to blame should the budget approval be delayed.

Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier said the 2021 budget is already as “good as reenacted” as its timely budget is already “impossible” since the House suspended session until Nov. 16.

The lower chamber suspended the session on Oct. 6, a week early of the Congress’ scheduled break on Oct. 16, even though it is yet to tackle on third and final reading the budget bill.

JPV