Daily Tribune, Apr. 2, 2019, Senate Ripped For Sabotage.pdf

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Senate ripp Up

I

TUESDAY

ta

to now, the l

Senate has

y_et

make public a detailed report on the proponents bo

lleru,actAe

rr)

dt'vr p4ci{ Pa. . e

ri pped forsabotage

Senate lhry are accusing each dher with certain iridgularities or acts in conflict with the

among themselves and that

wil

be factored in the consideration

of the President signing or vetoing certain Foyisions of the budget."

Panelo, n everthel

Constitution. They should resolve it

e

ss,

guaranteed Mr. Duterte vill onlv sign d "legal' 2019 budget whil! expressing hope the proposed 2019 budget would be sigtr€d into law anytime this week

hsmel

nThe

Itesideni muld weigh the claims

budget realignments

National Expenditure Program

of both the Senate and the 2019 budget for infta$rucfure Eouse about insertions and' projects as appropriat€d in the

bitl.

in

:

the

'ttey (the Senate and the Eouse of Bepresentatives) are accusing each other with certain inegularities or acts in conflict with the Constitution. Thev should resolve

it,'

he expressed".

Solomonic solutiotr

'Ihe

fador in

President, I'm sure will aU

(NEP),' House Appropri ations Committee chairnan Bolando Andaya Jr. ssid. Andaya emphajized that the House

ha.s

suggested

anetdments

in the nationai budget, which increases allocations for

Foj€cts

without touching the

Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWE) RoW and p2.6 billion for DPI{II foreign-assisted

"Depriving the government

with funds for right-of-way and other infrastructure,

projectb

will surely hamper

the implementation of the Piesident's 'Build, Build, Build' program- Confuction on priority fojects, itrcluding nass transit and raiIYaJ' systems, will be mostty affected,, the Eouse .. Ieaders pointed

out.

Panelo e&id the presideft

total. muld weigh the claims oi

amotnt thaf ivas pegged in fire

NEP

tllc rtatemeits

made by both ehambers

in going over the budget and then

both the. Senafe and the I0use.tDout insertions Eouse.tbout insertioni- and -'-Thel{ouseeryessed budget realignments, confidence thai

. ;

,

the office of the Also cited were pg billion for President will rebel returnees and outof_school consider its youth's scholarship under the amendments Technical Education Skills and for review Development Authority; p2.2b4 \a-nd look billion for National dieening for ways Program, which they claim to t0 restore have resulted to 50 percent

decide for himself,t

ihe Palace official said-

'Well,

(DoTr) Righi-of-Way (RoW) projects, Pll.03 billion for

fron Serrte

Slashes

House of Represergatives never made a move to reduce the

apFopriations

for Ddparhnent of thansportation's

projects.

pmYisions in a document are illegal or not," he added.

Panelo explained the

They cited anew several

provisions in the 2019 General ApFapriations Bill, which the senators have cut down. Among these were: P5 billion

ag ai n,

that is an internal problem between

e th9

t, h e- s throgqh

then- With relpect to

budget cut for aU PENBO except in Antique; p?.b billion budget presidential for the Southeast Asian Garies

the two houiss, they shouh resolve.tliat,' he added. "They,re raising constitutional issues

veto,

from Department of Foreign Affai$, but p6 billion of which was transferred to the

philippine

Sports Commission.with that the

renaining P2.5 bilion nowhere

to be found;

PlB.4

billion miscellaneous

pe$onnel benefit fund and the P39 billion in pension and gratuity

De8perate bid

Rol-n uolley Presidenriar spokesman

sal panero oettects more tarrications trom .*ii.i.rrni'i ,In'tJJt o irt"no,

adrfilbtration critics such as the;leged chin.i" oort, in lhe Wesl PhiliDDine Sea

,,

Senate President Vicente Sotto

+loAtuU€ fta)str fo

")

III

dismissed the House allegations it a desperate attempt to stop Mr Duterte from veioing and called

their insertions. Sotto maintained Mr. Duterte is well-informed about the budget issue and the stand of tie Senate. the Senate h€sident theodz€d

that Andaya's latest move was meant to pr€rcnttlle hesident from. rcrci.sfu his rcbo porer.

Ee's a lawyer. He will how whether o documert

or certain provisions in a docunefr is illegal or not.

'It's a last-ditch effort

to

obfuscate the issue and try to preyent the President,s veto oI their illegal realignments," he said. "Even their colleagues Imow. Nd o<cuses are necessary because

the President l0ows everlthing,' he added. Sotto was apparendy referring to at least 62 membeN ofthe House who- supposedly informed some senators about the slashing of the budget alocated to their respedive congressional distdcis after ihe ra.tiflcation of the measue.

With reservatiom

the

Senate Presideni signed

the "manipulated" budget with shong reservations over the p?E billion alleged regligunents made by some mernbers ofthe House. In his letter to the president, Sotto attached a list ofthe items

allegedly realigned by some

House leaders and urged the Chief Executive to exercise Ns veto power,

The budget version of the House was already transmitted

to

the Dxecutiye departrnent after Sotto signed

it last

week.

Prior to Sotto,s signing, the Senate wanted the original raffied version to be passed that resulted in more than a month of impasse.

Senators have expressed optimism that ttre hesident will heed their call to veto the p?6 billion.