Funding problem cited reason for vetoed bills

Iloilo Representative Janette Garin. Photo from congress.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines – Funding problem was cited as one of the reasons why President Benigno Aquino III vetoed several bills, House senior deputy majority leader Janette Garin said on Thursday.

The President thumbed down 71 measures since 2010, and “55 of these are on road conversions,” according to Garin.

“If you look at the absolute number and dig deeper, you will see that 55 of these are on provincial roads that are being converted to national roads, 10 are local bills,” she told reporters in a press conference on Thursday.

Just last week, the President last vetoed the proposed Centenarian Act and the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Act of 2013.

“People think it’s a lot but there are valid reasons to have these vetoed. A big problem is the depletion of national funds,” Garin said.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has earlier called on Cabinet members to ensure their attendance to important congressional hearings to ensure that key measures, once approved by the House, will be fool-proof.

“When the bills are important, come and attend yourself. If you adopted a certain position, when we get to Malacañang, defend it,” he said.

Garin, meanwhile, said that some bills had to be vetoed in order to ensure that they were perfect by the time they were enacted.

She said that many measures have been enacted but have been plagued by lack of funding.

“To date there are some 400-billion worth unfunded laws,” said the House leader, adding that it was better to ensure that laws passed will face no funding problems rather than pass so many laws without taking into consideration where the funding would come from.

“Andyan na ang batas pero hindi naman magamit dahil sa walang pera,” she said.

“Bakit mo paaasahin? You’re giving false expectations to the people,” added Garin.

But she clarified that it was not a “lapse” in legislators’ judgment that the measures, which ended up being vetoed, were passed at all.

“There’s a big difference between good governance and politics. Unfortunately all of our legislators are politicians,” Garin said.

They are politicians in the sense that when they come back to their districts, they are faced with requests that provincial roads be converted to national roads.

“When you go back to your district they will tell you to at least try, even if the road does not meet the qualifications. The people tell you that there’s no harm in trying,” she said.