Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – A budget passed under the cloak of deception.
This is how Sen. Pia Cayetano described the 2016 General Appropriations Act (GAA) before members of the media on Thursday (January 14).
She expressed disappointment over the P1 billion reduction on the budget for the implementation of the Reproductive Health (RH) law, of which she is one of the principal authors.
She lamented there was not even an attempt to alert or notify her or the Senate’s health committee, even through the bicameral conference committee report.
There was a special provision of the bicam report indicating a P1 billion cut on the budget of the Department of Health (DOH), particularly on the item on purchase and allocation of drugs, medicines and vaccines, which she said they did not oppose.
But she later found out in the final version of the GAA that the allocation was actually reduced from the funding for the RH program.
She said she is raising hell because this is the first time that such a questionable action was taken, compromising the sanctity of the legislative procedure.
Cayetano wants fellow senators Loren Legarda, who chairs the finance committee, and Tito Sotto, the proponent of the RH budget cut, to be held accountable. She said they should explain before the public.
She also mulls bringing the matter to the Supreme Court.
