The House of Representatives will not railroad the plenary approval of the proposed P3.767-trillion General Appropriations Bill for 2018, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said on Wednesday.
At a news conference, Alvarez said that shortened debates on the budget measure do not necessarily mean that Congress, especially the Lower House, gives up its ‘power of the purse’ as some opposition lawmakers have claimed.
The House is eyeing to pass the 2018 GAB on third and final reading as lawmakers are scheduled to debate on the budget measure next week.
“There is no need to prolong the debates on the budget measure so long as all issues raised are properly addressed,” Alvarez said.
He said the Lower House has other priority agenda on the table apart from the 2018 budget bill.
Earlier, opposition Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay and Tom Villarin of Akbayan party-list warned against the railroading of the approval of the budget bill.
Villain said the swift approval of the budget should not be allowed pending questions on lump sum funds and major budget realignments.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chair the House committee on appropriations, said his panel has been thoroughly scrutinizing the national budget which is now under the pre-plenary status before this will be sponsored in the plenary next week.
“We have had extensive deliberations at the committee level, and we have also scheduled pre-plenary discussions for members of the House to further engage the heads of offices in debate of their respective budgets. The heads of departments and agencies are also committed to continue discussions about their budget with members of the House on the day of their scheduled budget defense, while the committee on appropriations will be defending the budget on the floor,” Nograles said.
“Given these three layers of budget discussions, I believe we are adequately exercising our power of the purse,” Nograles added.
Nograles recalled that “last year, we were able to complete plenary debates in seven days, considering that it was the new President’s maiden budget. This year, this being President Duterte’s second budget perhaps we can finish this in five days.”
