House itemizing 2019 budget for transparency: Andaya

FILE: Andaya replaced Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas. (Photo: Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya Jr/Facebook)

MANILA — The House of Representatives is detailing the items in the proposed PHP3.75-trillion national budget for 2019 in order to make all projects and programs funded per agency and by district “clear and evident”, House appropriations committee chair Rolando Andaya Jr. said Tuesday.

“The House is itemizing the appropriations therein, fleshing out lump-sum funds, without departing from the approved specifications of the House-Senate approved budget. By so doing, we make the budget more transparent and easy to scrutinize,” Andaya said in a statement.

Andaya also defended Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after Senator Panfilo Lacson accused her of tampering with the PHP3.75-trillion bicam-approved national budget for 2019.

He pointed out that the Senate President and the Speaker are not directly involved in the bicameral committee discussion.

“Responsibility rests on the Bicam conferees,” he said.

The Camarines Sur lawmaker stressed that the General Appropriations Act is a product of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and that both chambers follow the same rules and procedures in crafting the national budget.

The House leader said that if the Senate thinks that the procedure being undertaken by the House is illegal, then the Senate is equally guilty if on its part it had itemized the pet amendments on the budget by the senators.

He pointed out that they have been insisting long ago to their “friends in the Senate” to fully disclose the authorship and details of the Senate amendments to the budget.

In the spirit of transparency, Andaya said he and his counterpart on the Senate, Finance Committee chair Loren Legarda, should hold a joint press briefing on the amendments made in the proposed national budget.

“To clear the air, I suggest that the chair of the Senate finance committee and the House appropriations committee hold a joint press conference to identify each and every amendment made in the 2019 GAA,” he said.

“After all, transparency and accountability is the name of the game,” Andaya said.

Earlier, Lacson accused Arroyo of supposedly allotting PHP25 million for Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) for the districts of “favored” House members who elected her as Speaker in July last year.

He also claimed that the Speaker “distributed” only PHP8 million for the districts of House members who did not support her election as Speaker.

Lacson said it is basic in our legislative process that the House as a body has the sole power to make the amendments, not the Speaker, “and certainly not after the ratification of the bicameral report.”