Solons ask Zamora: Are you with minority?

Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Two party-list lawmakers have urged Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora to perform his job as lead fiscalizer in the House of Representatives, as deliberations on the proposed 2016 national budget and the Bangsamoro Basic Law are set to start next week.

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said the minority bloc under Zamora was more aligned with the majority bloc, especially on the budget and the draft BBL.

“He (Zamora) should explain why there was P424 billion in lump sums approved in this year’s budget,” said Atienza in a phone interview.

Lacson’s claim

Atienza was referring to former Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s claim that he and his team had found at least P424 billion in lump-sum appropriations, also known as discretionary funds, parked in the budgets of 11 of 21 major line agencies.

“People deserve to know what is happening in Congress. We have to scrutinize the budget and do away with ‘fast breaks.’ I am asking members of the minority to get united and act as the political opposition in the House,” Atienza said.

Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada party-list said Zamora was widely perceived as being part of the majority since he broke his alliance with San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez of the Magdiwang Party, an ally of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Minority decision

De la Cruz said the decision to replace Zamora was solely in the hands of the 19 members of the minority bloc, which voted for him in 2013.

Minority member and Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, however, said Atienza and De la Cruz should not interfere in the business of the minority because they themselves were part of the majority.

Albano said Atienza and De la Cruz belonged to the so-called independent minority bloc of Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, who had narrowly lost to Zamora.

‘Super majority’

Since the independent bloc was not given any committee seats, its members were “accommodated” by the majority bloc and were given a share of their committee seats, Albano said.

But Atienza said that if the independent bloc was part of the majority, the minority bloc belonged to the “super majority.”