House panel ends talks on proposed P10-B OP budget in under 40 minutes
MANILA, Philippines — Discussions on the Office of the President’s P10.70 billion proposed budget for 2024 were terminated in less than 40 minutes after the House committee on appropriations started its hearing on Tuesday morning.
During the hearing, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin presented the Office of the President (OP) budget to the panel acting for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is attending the 43rd Asean Summit in Indonesia.
Abra Rep. Ching Bernos later moved to terminate deliberations on OP’s budget as part of parliamentary courtesy accorded to the executive branch, which was seconded immediately by lawmakers present.
The three members of the Makabayan bloc, however, objected to the motion. Minority Leader and 4Ps Rep. Marcelino Libanan said the Minority agrees with giving the OP parliamentary courtesy but asked the committee to allow the Makabayan bloc members to manifest why they object to the deliberation’s quick termination.
The members of the Makabayan bloc are ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel.
However, the hearing was temporarily suspended over whether the Makabayan lawmakers could manifest after the deliberations had ended or if the motion to withdraw had to terminate to allow the opposition to argue first.
Eventually, the appropriations senior vice chairperson and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo ruled that the budget deliberations had been terminated since Castro had withdrawn her objections.
Manuel once again contested the termination, worried their manifestation might not be correctly recorded. Deputy Speaker and Davao 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab confirmed that the hearing had terminated because Castro withdrew her objection, signifying the termination motion was properly seconded.
Ultimately, the committee gave Makabayan bloc members two minutes each to manifest against the budget talks’ termination.
On August 30, Makabayan objected to the quick termination of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) budget, saying that the committee is shielding officials from questioning — given that they were supposed to ask about the agency’s confidential fund spending for 2022.
