Lacson marks ‘a lot of violations’ in crafting of proposed 2021 budget

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said there had been “a lot of violations” in the drafting of the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.

“Ang daming violation nitong 2021,” Lacson said in an interview over CNN Philippines.

(There are a lot of violations in this 2021 budget.)

The first violation, according to the senator, was the institutional amendments approved by a “small committee” in the House of Representatives even after the lower chamber has approved on final reading the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which contains the 2021 spending plan of the government.

“It is not a matter of being acceptable to the senators or not. It’s a matter of the Constitution prohibiting it. Section 26 of the Constitution is very clear. No amendments shall be allowed after the final reading of any bill,” Lacson stressed.

“In the meantime, we will have to live with that and tackle the budget measure in the Senate once it is transmitted to us, whether soft copy or hard copy. They promised to send us the USB drive, the soft copy, by October 28, and we will have enough time to look into it,” he added.

Senator Panfilo Lacson. File photo / Senate PRIB

Another alleged violation, Lacson said,  is allowing the executive branch to modify its proposal during the Authorization phase of the budget process.

According to the senator, the budget process has four phases.

“Preparation [is] handled by the executive; Authorization handled by Congress; Execution handled by the executive; and Accountability. This is where COA (Commission on Audit) comes in,” he said.

“So separate and distinct lahat ang phases na ‘yan. Sa amin ang Authorization,” he added.

(So the phases are separate and distinct. The authorization is with Congress.)

In an earlier radio interview, House appropriations chair Rep. Eric Yap said the amendments made to the budget before it is submitted to the Senate were all initiated by agencies of the executive branch.

“Ang period of amendments, ang mga errata galing lahat sa agencies, walang galing sa congressman,” Yap had said.

(In the period of amendments, all errata are from the agencies, nothing came from the congressmen.)

But this, Lacson pointed out, is a clear “violation” of the budget process.

“We are now in the Authorization phase, and it’s in the exclusive domain of Congress. So we cannot allow agencies under the executive branch to participate in the Authorization phase,” the senator pointed out.

“So I cannot understand why the chairman of the appropriations committee of the House of Representatives would allow the executive branch through their agencies to participate in the Authorization phase. That is in violation of the budget process,” he added.

Further, Lacson said the submission of the Department of Public Ways and Highways (DPWH) that provides details of projects with proposed funding under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) is also a violation of the budget process because it “mangled” the budget originally submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to Congress.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar earlier explained to senators that there was a delay in the submission of project details because the DBM only gave them their ceiling budget on July 16 and a deadline of July 17 to submit their budget based on this ceiling.

“The ceiling was given at a date very close to the printing which rendered us unable to give the details in such a short period of time. So with coordination with the DBM, they allowed us to submit the details of our NEP in an annex that followed shortly thereafter,” Villar said.

READ: ‘What happened?’ Lacson on DPWH increased funding for local projects

Still, Lacson said DPWH’s action  “effectively amended” the NEP.

“Mutilated. Talagang naiba na [Changes were really made]. So again I was questioning that, why would DPWH be able to participate in the Authorization phase ng (of the) budget process kasi dapat sa Congress na ‘yan (when it should already be solely for Congress). Pero nag-amend sila [But they amended it],” he said.

“May explanation sila [They explained that] they were pressed for time…which to us senators hindi naman [is not] acceptable,” he said.

‘Benefit of the doubt’

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco earlier assured there is “no pork” in the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021 amid questions raised by some lawmakers over various allocations following its approval.

“Definitely, dadaan talaga sa Senate ‘yan kasi bicameral tayo. Now I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt kasi new leadership. Hindi pa namin kakilala pa si Speaker Velasco and Rep. Yap,” Lacson said.

(Definitely, that will go through the Senate because we are bicameral. Now I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt because this is a new leadership. We do not know yet Speaker Velasco and Rep. Yap.)

“Hindi naman sa pagbubuhat ng bangko, we are the old guards, and they are the young Turks. Gusto lang namin sila i-remind there’s a budget process that’s not supposed to be flouted, and there’s the Constitution that we must adhere to. ‘Yan ang basic reminders namin sa kanila,” he added.

(This is not to brag but we are the old guards and they are the young Turks. We just want to remind them that there’s a budget process that’s not supposed to be flouted, and there’s the Constitution that we must adhere to. Those are our basic reminders to them.)

Congress is currently on a break and will resume sessions in November.

KGA