I THE PHILIPPINE STAR

THE PHILIPPINE STAR wEDNESDAY I MARcH

.# 27,2o1s i nglilS

Senate, House agree to retain rpork' in budget

Bv
i:s":
DrAz, . t"+iTl""iix"J:;L;ated
;TE:fi?"?H,Hproposed
nationar nes0tiatins
[:iTi;'ni""'"'
tne meetins
for the sen-
The Senate and the House of Repre- O"n Mondaf, negotiators of the The House team was composed of ate were A','daya's counterPart Loren
sentatives will retain their respective two chambers forged the agreement, appropriations committee chairman Legarda, who chairs the finance com-
u"tta funds as part of ari agree- which Senate Pres'ideni Vic;nte Sotto Rblan,lo Andayir.fr- of Camarines Sur, mittee,. Panfilo Lacson and Gregorio
'
"orii
irent that ended their'three-montf,-old III apparently accepte4 prompting the Edcel.Lagrnan of Albay and Ronaldo Turn to Page 5

, sotto has rerused

sotro refused to eign sign ure buaget
flre budget lgallgined
Bllllons reallglned i- '* "He has right to *-r,
tlre ttgb..
L"t tl* veto re-ali
Sgnatg FromPasei Uifi i.i *"ror.atv havin? "illeeal a:id The entire P75 billion
"Once fie signs aligned, though P46.4 billion of it was
has been re- . But we commerrd-the members of
urconstituhinal"
urconstituhtrnal" c'ontents.
lPresident
., ifor submitting the enrolled bill," bill Panelo
Honasan. it, it will be sent to Duterte-for ]retained with lhe DPWH no.longer as-a I added.
Sources said that during the negotia- -ri...ittn into lo*. I DBM insertion but as
part of the lawmak- J "It is still the President's call. Whatever
tions, the SenaG relented on its stand that "-gu'1;Juu;;r computatiorL the realim- ers' pork barrel. -respectof ihe House will not matter
I the opinion
the "itemization of lump sums" the House menlE
menls, the b'ulk of wliich
which consisted of pdrk Clf the P+6.4 congressmert's I with'respect
P46.4 bil.liory the congressmen's with to the Plesidelrt
President deciding
did after the tlnat veisi6n of the proposed barrel funds, amounted to nearly F99 bil- share amounts to P20.7 billion, while sena- i whether 1f s unconstitutional or not," he
krrtda+ rc rnnfained ih
in lioo which the two chambers wo:uld sPlit. --
tor{}-r,ave more-than P25 billion. \said.
budset - as contained the bicameral
con6rence committee (bicam) report was A matrix Andava nuuu to t"ooiu.5 o" 6iUi.*i i" realignmeng were
l'(+ Fah I was illeeal
illegal and un'
un- ' Fd.8;;d th;;id; i"oion of the U"agut g1v9n to other "aaitt"nJ
agencies wheie pork barrel What's important now he_ s_aid, is that
"--'^vad last Feb. 8 -
approved
*"s .ooroved. showed senators sharins "fulhs
are usually hidden. the enrolled bill will be sent to Malacafrang.
constitutional.
The House insisted that its itemization fei.Z tiiltion or Oa percent of the P99-billioi The Departrnmt of Heal.lh received P17.6 "Because we need to have a new budget"
proiects lump-sum "oizza oie." as Laison called the Dork bar- billior! of'which P1.6 billion is treated as he said.
or listins of to support
aooropiatioirs breviously d greed between t6t' rhb zst House members *ill have a senate insertion' while P16 billion was Panelo lauded the senate and House
ddJr.lu una Lisarda did ri'ot violate the faO.SLilionoraT percent to divide among addedby the Andaya-Legarda bicam. .. of Representatives fo.r finally settling
i"* #a tn" cooEtitution and had been the ' themselves. The P16 billiori wouid be sPent for _

their differences. "Ttey performed their

practice "ever since."
' ln previous stalements, Andaya said if known as P"riority DeielopmentAssistance will
what the House did was wrong., the Senate
iflegal-
could be considered equaly 8u ty of
itv and unconstitutionality.
' He said senators also did their own item-
'rzation up to March 7, nearly a month after
the Feb. d bicam report ratification.
this. Sotto
The Senate never admitted
claimedhe and his coileagues did not touch
the budget after the bicam report was
fied.
Sources said since the Senatebudged on
its stand during Monday's negotiations, the
two DaJ'Iels agieed 1o "respect and accept
the #abgnme"nts and chanies in the budget
each chamber has made'"
Also as oart of the agreement, the
House woulb again send to"Sotto the same
budeet version" it earlier transmitted to
himbut which was recalltid law week as a
conJidencebuildilg move preParatory to
Monday's reconciliation talks'
The consressional porkbarrel used tobe health facilities senators and congressmen,, resoective iobs," he said. - With Christina
identify. There was no money for this I Uindez, Mary CracePadin
Fund before thd Suprem'e Court struck it purpose in the Presiden(s budget prcposal. '
down as unconstitirtional in November Other departments that were allocated PAq"€ r/
iolz. additional lunds and which are "pork" ^' A)iT
f
It had an armual appropriation of P25 conduits are labor and employment (which
billion. Each senatorw#alldcated P200mil- received P2.7 billion), education (P2 5
lion, while each House member was givm billion), agriculture (P485:nillion) social
P7o'million per district.
" welfare an? dwelopment (P1.5billion) and
. The conei€ssional pork barrel held onlv trade and industrv1P1.5 billion)
rati- Revlew
53":*?ii"J$ffi?the'timeortheratePresi
The P99-billioin "oork" was funded out President Duterte will still review the
of the controversial f75-billion Depart- P3.7s7-trillionbudget program for the year,
ment of Budget and Management (DBM) particularly the re-alignments madeby law-
"insertion" in- the 2019 fund1ng for the De- makers, before he signs it into law.
oartment of Public Work ani Hishwavs Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo
|DPWH ) and reductions taken froftr oth'er said the Presiderit may also exercise his line-
agencies or lump-sum appropriations. which
n:ff;Hr;ilil::HilJfl:'Jons
-Tfi'aflshis judgment call. He will have
to review the enrolled bill. And if it is con-
sistent with the Constitution,.he will sign
it,' Panelo said.