The House of Representatives resumed its deliberation on the proposed P1.6-trillion national budget for 2011 on Thursday morning, after Budget Secretary Florencio Abad promised to provide Congress a list of the projects to be financed under the lump sum appropriations.
On Wednesday afternoon, Visayas and Mindanao legislators moved to defer the budget deliberation in protest against what they called “inequitable" budget sharing, which they fear will lead to smaller allocations for their regions. (See: Visayas, Mindanao solons protest ‘inequitable’ budget sharing)
If approved, only 7.7 percent (P126 billion) and 10 percent (P163 billion) of the entire 2011 budget will be allotted to Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.
The whole of Luzon will get a 16.34-percent share (P268 billion) of the budget, while the National Capital Region will get 3.6 percent or P58 billion.
Meanwhile, 31.7 percent of the budget, amounting to P521 billion, will be for the national government’s central offices.
The lawmakers see this setup as an unfair and lopsided distribution of resources.
Since the amounts stated were in lump sums, with no details on how these will be spent, lawmakers expressed concern that decision-making on more detailed allocations will solely fall on the department secretaries.
“Spending the lump-sum allocations would be at the discretion of the department heads. So there is absolutely no assurance our region could benefit from that budgetary allocation. We need a detailed explanation of how the lump sum is going to be spent," Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said.
The lawmakers threatened to stall the budget deliberation if the issue will not be resolved.
To address the concerns of the legislators, Abad met with the House members Wednesday night and promised to give a list of the projects.
'Proceed with budget while waiting for list'
House majority leader Neptali Gonzales II on Thursday told the plenary that the congressmen could review the list to check for projects lined up for their respective provinces.
“(To ensure) that eventually appropriation included in the lump sum will find its way, funding programs for the benefit of these two regions (Visayas and Mindanao)... the budget secretary would be providing a list (of the projects) to the House members and we could go over the same," he told the plenary.
Gonzales they agreed after the meeting that while waiting for the list the House can proceed with the deliberation of the budget.
He asked his colleagues to give Abad enough time to comply with the promise as the latter is set to leave the country Thursday for a commitment with the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
“At any rate, if there is a failure on the part of the DBM to comply with its promise, then there is nothing to prevent any member (of the House) from making a similar motion of deferment in the future," he said.
House minority leader Edcel Lagman said they will be patient in waiting for the list provided that it will be with the House before the approval of the bill on second reading.
Any response, list, arrangement or commitment should be included in the General Appropriations Act as a congressional authorization “in order to protect this House and the members," Lagman added.
Belmonte: ‘We can always make insertions’
In a separate interview, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. clarified that lawmakers are not barred from making ‘insertions’ in the budget.
“Hindi naman bawal and insertions e, from the very beginning sinabi ko na. Ayoko lang ng mga fantastic insertions noong araw na hundreds of millions and even billions. Yung idea na hindi puwede baguhin [ang budget] I don’t think it was ever accurate," Belmonte said.
(Insertions are not prohibited, I’ve said this from the very beginning. What I don’t want are the fantastic insertions that involved hundreds of millions and even billions as in the past. The idea that the budget can’t be modified, I don’t think it was ever accurate.)
He added that the distribution of budget allocations is "virtually the same as [in] the last two years."
“Yung budget ngayon, yung presentation is halos kamukha rin noon, give or take one or two percentage [points], pareho rin noong 2009, 2010. The fund from the central office will be distributed outside. Kunwari nasa Maynila, pero binibigay rin to the various areas," Belmonte said.
(The budget now, its presentation is almost similar to past ones, give or take one or two percentage points, same with 2009 and 2010. The fund from the central office will be distributed outside. It comes from Manila, let’s concede, but it’s given just the same to the various areas.)
‘Don’t deprive Congress of power of the purse’
In a text message to GMANews.TV, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the Visayas and Mindanao lawmakers are set to meet later on Thursday to assess Abad's explanation. Evardone said his province was allotted only P8.9 million locally-funded projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways.
For his part, Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas said he was not satisfied with the explanation because the lump sum in the budget remains as is.
“There are no specific items in the budget that would correspond to budgetary increases for the Visayas and Mindanao. In reality, they (DBM and the executive) are depriving Congress of the power of the purse," Cagas said.
He added: “Instead of putting so much money in the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the conditional cash transfer, which would make us a nation of mendicants, beggars and lazy people, we should rather invest in teachers, classrooms, in health, in our state colleges and universities and even in infrastructure projects for roads and tourism.—JV
