Lacson asks why House let executive branch interfere in budget work

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Tuesday questioned why the House of Representatives allowed the executive branch to interfere and insert “errata” into the P4.5-trillion proposed budget for 2021 during the authorization stage that Congress alone should handle.

In a television interview, Lacson said the act of the House “small committee” to insert “institutional amendments” into the approved budget bill was unconstitutional, as the changes were made after the spending measure had been approved on third and final reading.

“I cannot understand why the chairman of the appropriations committee of the [House] would allow the executive branch through their agencies to participate in the authorization phase. That is in violation of the budget process,” he said.

Agency-initiated changes

Lacson was referring to statements made on Monday by Rep. Eric Yap, House appropriations chair, who maintained the legality of the insertions by the small committee of errata to allow the inclusion of institutional amendments, or changes initiated by the agencies.

He said each stage in the four-part budget process was the exclusive domain of various branches of government.

“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. That is the exclusive domain of the Congress of the Philippines,” he said.

“This 2021 budget is riddled with so many violations,” he said.

In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque warned that additional items inserted into the approved budget bill would be vetoed by President Duterte.
Roque, a former congressman, said errata in the final version of the spending bill were usually allowed to correct “typographical errors.”

“If these are additional items, then I would share the view of the senators, because after the third and final reading there should be no changes,” he told a news briefing.

But facts must first be established, he said. “What was really approved during the third and final reading? Because unless that comes out, we won’t know if there were really new items that were added.”

No amendments

Senior Deputy Speaker Salvador Leachon told an online news briefing on Tuesday that the small committee did not make any amendments to the budget bill after its final approval but only “formalized” amendments made during the plenary deliberations.

“I assure you, I guarantee you, that as far as the House leadership is concerned, we are in accordance with our agreement with the Senate and, of course, in accordance with the Constitution. We actually did not add or [make] any amendments after the third reading,” Leachon said.

Earlier, Lacson said changes to the budget bill made by the House after the measure’s approval was unconstitutional, which could lead to a challenge to the validity of the spending plan in the Supreme Court.

The House also committed another violation, the senator said, when it allowed the late submission of “addendum” to the proposed spending of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and made it part of the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

The DPWH “addendum” failed to meet the 30-day deadline for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to submit the NEP to Congress, which was supposedly on Aug. 25, Lacson said.

“The problem is that the DPWH submitted what they called an addendum on Sept. 7, or 12 days after the lapse of the 30-day period. That should not have been accepted because that is already expired,” he said.
DPWH officials offered explanations, but the senators found them unacceptable because House members had informed the Senate of the real reason for the delay, Lacson said.
“There was a lot of haggling that went on between some members of the House under the previous leadership and [the] DBM,” he said.
The DPWH leadership must have been hard-pressed to give in to the lobbying by House lawmakers to include their pet projects, but which caused the delay in the process, Lacson said.

—With reports from Jerome Aning and Nestor Corrales