The House of Representatives on Monday approved on final reading a bill abolishing the Road Board by a 180-0-0 vote.
House Bill 7436 will now be transmitted to the Senate, where congressmen and senators will hold a series of bicameral conference committee meetings to fine-tune the bill.
READ: House, Senate agree to a deal, revise Road Board abolition bill
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr.”•who earlier in the day stepped down as House Majority Floor Leader”•said the Road Board funds shall now be transferred to the General Fund under the General Appropriations Act (GAA), after both houses of Congress agreed on what to do with the agency and its multibillion-peso kitty.
Andaya said the special account provided in the GAA will be deleted and it will no longer be considered as a separate account.
“It will now be part of the national budget or the General Fund to be used for the GAA,” he added.
Meanwhile, Andaya again accused Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno of another “insertion” operation in the proposed budget by revising the implementing rules and regulations of the Government Procurement Reform Act to allegedly transform the Department of Budget and Management into a “super-bidding body.”
Andaya made the revelation at the resumption of the congressional investigation on the alleged irregularities in the budget preparation involving Diokno.
The Camarines lawmaker relinquished his post as majority leader after he was appointed chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
“The House leadership under Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has accepted my offer to relinquish my post and lead the contingent tasked to complete one major unfinished business left in our legislative calendar: The passage of the 2019 national budget,” Andaya said in a speech in plenary session.
“I have been given orders from the [general headquarters] to the front lines. I volunteered for this mission, knowing fully well that the place of honor is in the front lines,” he said.
Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro, a deputy speaker, replaced Andaya. Castro, president of the National Unity Party, vowed to serve the House leadership to the best of his ability.
As chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Andaya, who is seeking a gubernatorial seat, said he intended to devote his last few days in Congress to ensure that the 2019 General Appropriations Act is transparent, fair to all and responsive to the needs of our people.
“If transparency and accountability in the GAA will be my only legacy as House leader, so be it.”
As both chambers of Congress are scheduled Tuesday to deliberate on the 2019 national budget, Andaya said he will lead the House team that will meet with their Senate counterparts to wrap up the fine print of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill.
“I must admit this is no easy task. The House Rules Committee, which I used to head, has uncovered anomalous allocations and questionable practices that marred the preparation of the 2019 National Expenditure Program by the Department of Budget and Management,” said Andaya, whose committee investigated the alleged irregularities in the budget preparation involving Diokno.
“We are now confronted with two choices: Rubber-stamping the passage of a greatly flawed budget on time or using more time to craft a better one purged of its inborn defects,” Andaya said.
“If we choose the path of surrender and subservience, then such legislative haste would have surely led to budgetary waste.”
Being the new head of the House appropriations committee, Andaya said: “We cannot pass a budget marinated in flood control funds or drowning in DBM-inserted infrastructure projects the DPWH remains clueless about.
“We cannot be casual or cavalier about the most important bill the Constitution assigns us to pass annually.
“In fact, in our mandate to represent our people, the duty to appropriate funds for and in their behalf ranks among the highest. This is so because, to quote a wit, worse than taxation without representation is taxation without appropriation.”
Andaya said that as majority leader, he steered the House approval of important pieces of legislation, including all the President’s priority measures mentioned in his 2018 State of the Nation Address.
“Our output is prodigious as it is purposeful,” he said.
READ: House all set to work for abolition of Road Board