Tit for tat: House speaker’s pork barrel

Metro Manila, Philippines - Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco and Speaker Martin Romualdez traded barbs on Tuesday, July 29, over accusations that the House leader was supposedly directing funds for aid allocations.

Tiangco said Romualdez’s office should “stop controlling” the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations and Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers among other government aid programs. He added that concerned government agencies should be handling the budget.

“What's happening now, congressmen are forced to request allocations from the Office of the Speaker,” Tiangco said in a statement.

“When you have to beg from the Office of the Speaker, it blatantly becomes the speaker's pork barrel, given their power to approve, disapprove, or dictate the amount to be given. Ito ay katumbas ng post-appropriation control by legislators, na ipinagbawal ng Korte Suprema,” he explained.

[Translation: This is equivalent to a post-appropriation control by legislators, which the Supreme Court prohibited.]

Romualdez’s office denied what it called “baseless accusation,” saying the programs are implemented by respective agencies.

“Like all congressional offices, the Office of the Speaker may issue endorsements or referrals in response to constituent requests from lawmakers or local leaders. These are strictly facilitative and do not guarantee or influence approval,” the office said in a separate statement.

“To allege otherwise is to misrepresent the law and institutional practice,” it said, noting that Romualdez upholds the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Small committee

Meanwhile, Tiangco urged to stop the establishment of a small committee in crafting the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

“Before approval on second reading, and after committee amendments are considered, every single individual amendment must be debated in open session. Itigil ang baluktot at dating gawi ng pagbuo ng small committee para pag-usapan ang individual amendments,” he said.

[Translation: Stop the wrong practice of creating a small committee to discuss individual amendments.]

Romualdez said the mechanism has been a parliamentary practice across several Congresses.

“The small committee does not override or replace the plenary. Its outputs are reported and become part of the final GAB. To characterize it as a ‘secret meeting’ is misleading and undermines the institutional memory and processes of the House,” the speaker’s office said.

Romualdez said Tiangco may raise the issue before the plenary to be addressed.

Last year’s deliberation on the current budget became controversial due to alleged blank allocations. The bicameral conference committee authorized a technical staff to fill in the blanks with the agreed amounts.

READ: No ‘blanks’ in budget law, only in signed bicam report - Quimbo

During the opening of the 20th Congress on Monday, Tiangco said he is not joining the majority and will be an independent House member to guard the budget well.