MANILA – There
was no insertion in the proposed P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget, which was
withdrawn from the House of Representatives’ plenary for being premature last
week.
Deputy speaker Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte said in a statement on Sunday
that it is impossible to have insertions on the proposed budget as it was not
approved by the House yet.
“Congressional insertions are budgetary amendments that certain lawmakers
insert on the sly after a consolidated General Appropriations Bill (GAB) has
already been passed by both chambers,” Villafuerte said.
“(It is) a post-ratification process that the Supreme Court had struck down and
which certain House leaders resorted to in the 17th Congress and that led to
the delay in the approval of the 2019 budget,” he added.
Villafuerte also said that lawmakers can introduce new expenditure items during
the process of deliberating the budget, provided that they don’t breach the
total appropriation submitted by the President to Congress.
Villafuerte withdrew the 2020 GAB filed by House Appropriations Committee chair
and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab during the plenary session on August 28
because its filing was “premature.”
He noted that the Appropriations Committee has not yet wrapped up its
deliberations on the budget proposals of different government agencies.
“Certainly, the premature filing of House Bill 4228 goes against the very
commitment of the House leadership to tackle the 2020 GAB— and all other
legislative measures for that matter— in timely fashion and with full
transparency from the committee to the plenary stages?” Villafuerte said.
He also said that he had to withdraw the GAB since House Speaker Alan Peter
Cayetano was unaware that he was made a co-author of the legislative measure.
The signing of the P3.6-trillion national budget for 2019 into law was delayed
by four months as the Senate and House disagreed over the insertions supposedly
made by Congressmen after the GAB has been ratified./PN
