Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 22) — House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo flatly denied accusations she was behind alleged realignments in the budget ratified by Congress.
Speaking to reporters at an event of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Arroyo said she did not have any involvement in the proposed 2019 spending bill.
“They (Reps. Rolando Andaya, Edcel Lagman and Ronaldo Zamora) were the ones who worked on the budget, not me. And they have been setting the record straight,” she said.
Andaya, Lagman and Zamora form the three-man House team tasked to negotiate with Senators Loren Legarda, Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan on the delayed budget. Lawmakers are deadlocked on the budget bill which has been kept from being enacted over concerns on the legality of the House’s itemizations of lump sums in the spending bill after its ratification.
Lawmakers are deadlocked on the budget bill which has been kept from being enacted over concerns on the legality of the House’s itemizations of lump sums in the spending bill after its ratification.
Arroyo said she has instructed the House contingent to end the impasse as soon as possible.
“I did not micromanage the putting together of the budget. I don’t wanna micromanage also their negotiations,” she said.
Lacson has accused Arroyo of giving her allies’ congressional districts in the House ₱25 million each from the Health Facilities Enhancement Program, while other congressmen only received P8 million. This supposedly happened after the ratification of the budget bill.
Arroyo has denied this through Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
Senators have also pointed out that the House has shaved off ₱96 billion from funds of the Public Works department and realigned these to their respective congressional districts.
Congressmen have also accused senators of realigning billions of funds from several government agencies.
Andaya, Lagman and Zamora are expected to meet with Legarda, Lacson and Honasan on Monday to break the budget deadlock.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said all the House needs to agree to is to remove the realignments they made after the ratification of the budget and stick to what was approved in the bicameral conference committee.
But if the House would remain stubborn, Sotto said the Senate will just wait for a new House leadership to takeover in the next Congress to push for the enactment of the budget bill.
The 2019 budget has been delayed for three months, leaving some infrastructure projects underfunded. Meanwhile, economic managers expect slower economic growth due to the budget’s delayed enactment.
