Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe | Photo from his official Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — Committee hearings of high significance will continue despite the looming 2025 budget deliberations at the House of Representatives, Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said on Tuesday.
In a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex, Dalipe was asked if different committees investigating criminal activity linked to the Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) and Chinese nationals allegedly tied to illegal drugs would wrap up their hearings, given the budget season.
Dalipe said the House previously suspended committee hearings to focus on the budget deliberations, but for this year, the leadership agreed with committee chairpersons regarding the need to hold simultaneous discussions.
“Several committee chairmen whose panels are conducting hearings talked to me yesterday, and they were asking for guidance, because usually in the previous years, we would hold all other hearings when the budget is presented to us, and we would concentrate on the budget,” Dalipe relayed.
“But the chairpersons are appealing to continue hearings because they are already in the process of having very important resource persons, very important information,” he added.
According to Dalipe, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has already directed Secretary General Reginald Velasco to find spaces in the Batasang Pambansa complex where panels can conduct hearings even while the proposed 2025 national budget is being deliberated by the committee on appropriations.
These spaces would also be located near the areas where the budget is being discussed so lawmakers can shuttle back and forth between hearings.
“I told the secretary-general that under the instruction of Speaker Martin Romualdez, if the hearing is of high importance, we will not stop it. So with that directive from the Speaker, we are already instructing the secretary-general to make available the other spaces, especially spaces in the new building that we have in the Batasan Pamansa complex,” Dalipe said.
“So what will happen is that we will allocate the other rooms nearer to the plenary hall for budget briefing […] and we will also reserve the other new spaces for those committees which have to continue with their investigation, especially those probing illegal drugs, Pogos, and other important issues. So we will now have more or less parallel hearings,” he added.
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As of now, different committees are in the thick of discussing pressing issues:
- Committee on Public Order and Safety
- Hearing on illegal drug operations conducted by police officers in Calabarzon
- Hearing on crimes linked to Pogos (joint hearings with the committee on games and amusements)
- Committee on Dangerous Drugs
- Hearing on the usage of Mexico, Pampanga warehouse for drug storage, and Chinese nationals linked to the warehouse
- Committee on Human Rights
- Hearing on alleged extrajudicial killings on the former administration’s drug war
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Aside from this, there are several issues that lawmakers previously said should be discussed by House panels:
- Automated election system issue (Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta)
- Flooding in Metro Manila (Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano/ committee on Metro Manila Development)
- Reclamation projects in Manila Bay (Makabayan bloc)
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Not a challenge
Dalipe believes holding simultaneous hearings would not be much of a challenge to House lawmakers because usually, solons wait for hours during budget deliberations before having their turn to ask questions.
Instead of waiting idly, Dalipe said lawmakers can visit other committees and attend the hearings.
“I don’t see it a challenge because if you observe during the committee on appropriations hearing, due to the extremely long list, there are lawmakers waiting for three hours, seated, not doing anything. So it’s a matter of time management. Instead of sitting there for three hours complaining about the long list of lawmakers wanting to ask questions, eh we can also do other work with other committees,” he said.
“They can just shuttle back and forth between the committee rooms. So at least the time of our lawmakers is not wasted waiting for their turn to ask things about the budget […] lawmakers sometimes wait for more than three hours just to ask questions. So I think we will do time management and time is a very important resource for us here,” he added.
Dalipe said budget talks are expected to start by the second week of August.
“The House leadership is for the committee on appropriations to already start with the budget briefings, and by next week, without any delay, we will start with the budget briefing of the 2025 National Expenditure Program,” he said.
“So the committee on appropriations under committee chairman (Ako Bicol party-list Rep.) Zaldy Co will start the briefing and we will start it with the DBCC (Development Budget Coordination Committee),” he added.