A congressional leader on Monday accused the previous leadership of the House of Representatives of allegedly manipulating the 2020 national budget which resulted in budget cuts totaling P209 billion, including the more than P70 billion slashed from the pension and gratuity fund of retired military and police personnel.
This was revealed by Deputy Speaker Isidro Ungab, who was the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations when Congress approved in 2019 the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 under the leadership of then Speaker Alan Cayetano.
“I think this is the proper time to reveal what truly happened, everything that has happened. The version that was finalized at the bicameral conference committee report was not anymore the chairman’s (of the Committee on Appropriations),” Ungab said.
“It was finalized by the Office of the Speaker,” he added.
Cayetano has yet to make a comment on the matter as of press time.
Ungab made the clarification after Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike
Defensor, a known ally of Cayetano, accused Speaker Lord Allan Velasco of having a hand in the the alleged P20-billion decrease in the military’s pension and gratuity fund in the 2021 General Appropriations Act.
In his interpellation, incumbent Appropriations Committee Chairman Eric Yap clarified the 2021 GAA was diligently scrutinized by the bicameral conference committee and the executive department, including the Department of Budget and Management.
“It was the most responsive budget we could craft and pass in the wake of the global pandemic, especially considering the fact that Speaker Lord Allan Velasco had to work double-time to pass the GAA and prevent a re-enacted budget,” Yap said.
Yap explained the P20-billion decrease constituted a consensual removal of a buffer fund, which the DBM, the House and the Senate all agreed to.
He said the present quandary involving the pension of uniformed retirees was due to the P70-billion cut in their budget for the year 2020.
Nevertheless, Yap said he will file a supplemental budget of P50 billion to be able to absorb the fund deficiency brought about by the P70-billion budget cut.