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MANILA, Philippines — The deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) were deferred due to the absence of its chief, Ivan John Uy, and National Privacy Commission (NPC) Chair, John Henry Naga.
At the start of the lower chamber’s appropriations committee’s hearing, Makati Rep. Luis Campos Jr. announced that the panel received letters from Uy and Naga explaining their absence.
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“One [letter was] from Secretary Ivan Uy dated August 20, 2024, explaining his absence due to respiratory tract infection and another from the NPC explaining that the chair, Atty. Naga is out of town on official business, attending Asia Pacific Economic Operations senior officials meeting in Lima, Peru,” Campos said.
“He (Naga) would be en route from Peru to Manila at the current time, making it impossible for him to attend, I submit to the wisdom of the body if we should pursue the budget deliberation,” he added.
Upon hearing this, 1-Rider Partylist Rep. Rodge Gutierrez moved to defer the budget briefing, pointing out that it has been a “tradition” of the lower chamber to require the presence of the department heads when holding budget deliberations.
His motion was seconded by Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin and approved by Campos.
However, upon the motion’s approval, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez raised an objection, saying that the panel could continue since the agency and the NPC’s other officials were present during the hearing.
He added that questions that may only be answered by the department or agency heads can be given to them before the plenary.
Despite his appeal, the committee suspended the hearing and will soon announce a new schedule.
Aside from DICT, the Department of Migrant Workers’ budget deliberations were likewise deferred by the appropriations committee on Tuesday and moved to September 9 due to the absence of its chief, Hans Leo Cacdac.