To break the impasse, Congress may reconsider 2019 budget — Drilon

MANILA, Philippines— To end the impasse over the 2019 budget bill, Congress may recall its approval and discuss any changes in May.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon made the suggestion on Monday as the Senate and the House of Representatives (HoR) traded allegations over the changes reportedly made in the budget.

Drilon confirmed that when the Senate leadership met over the weekend, there was a report from Senate committee on finance about the P75-billion budget realignment  even after its ratification.

At least two congressmen— one from the Visayas and one from Luzon— reportedly told him that 62 congressmen were affected by the realignment.

“The allegation is that these items [that] were in the National Expenditure Program [and] were carried in the General Appropriations Bill were approved in bicam, and the ratified version of the bicam contained these allocations,” he said in an interview at the Senate.

“So, I would request the chairman of the committee to furnish the senators of the details of this, because you cannot alter what was approved in the bicam, contained in the bicam report, and ratified by each chamber,” he said.

“If the HoR would want to realign and change certain allocations in the HoR, my suggestion is that when we reconvene on May 20, we reconsider the ratification of the bicam report on the budget and reconvene the bicam and correct the alleged revisions in the final bicam report,” Drilon said.

The senator stressed that no one — not even the Senate President or the Speaker of the House — could alter a bicam report that was already ratified by both chambers.

“The Senate President and the House Speaker are not superior to their respective chambers. It is the chambers which approved this; and therefore, any revision must be approved by the chambers,” the Minority Leader pointed out.

Drilon noted that Congress had recalled some bills in the past such as the coco levy fund, which was later vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“We revised it (coco levy fund) after it was approved by the bicam; recalled it. Of course, ultimately the President vetoed the bill,” he said.

“We can reconsider our approval of the bicam report. The printing of the budget is immaterial,” he further said.

Drilon said they advised Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III not to sign the printed copy of the budget bill if it ‘s not the one ratified by the Senate. /ee

READ: Sotto dares House to sign 2019 budget bill