The House of Representatives is expected to go full blast with its deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget this month, but some of them expressed reservations video-based meetings could actually slow down the process.
"It’s hard to say right now (how it will turn out)," Camiguin lone district Rep. Xavier Jesus "XJ" Romualdo said.
"I think the usual budget hearings and plenary deliberations can be done through virtual means, just like how we’ve been holding committee meetings and sessions through Zoom and other technology," he said adding, however, the absence of quick, informal huddles, will slow down the process.
"A very important part of the budget process in the House, which allows us to work on the budget rather quickly despite the fact that there are over 300 members each with their own concerns and issues about the budget, are the informal huddles, dialogues, and talks in the sidelines that we have with officials of government agencies," noted the deputy majority leader.
"It is in these discussions with regional directors, bureau directors, assistant secretaries, undersecretaries, and secretaries and agency heads that many of our issues and concerns, especially those that involve our districts and constituencies, are resolved and so they aren’t brought up anymore in the budget hearings and plenary debates. We’re thus able to work on approving the budget faster," Romualdo explained.
The persisting threat of COVID-19 has made face to face hearings impractical, if not downright dangerous. While recent House hearings have featured the physical presence of some congressmen and resource persons at the plenary, these have been done on a very limited scale to properly observe the physical distancing rule.
"With the pandemic, I don’t think we can do these confabs like we used to and, if all 300 members bring up their concerns during the budget hearings and in plenary, we may not be able to pass the budget on time," Romualdo said.
"Nevertheless, I’m hopeful and quite confident that the House leadership will come up with something to address this," he further said.
Malacañang, through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), traditionally submits the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to the House of Representatives right after the President's State of the Nation Address or SoNA.
The NEP, which is yet to be transmitted, serves as the basis of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), or proposed national budget. Once enacted, the GAB becomes known as the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
The 2021 GAB will have been the second proposed national budget to be tackled under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
Cayetano and the entire House for that matter has taken great pride in the swift passage of the 2020 GAB last year. The P4.1-trillion budget bill's approval was described as record-setting since the deliberation only took 20 working days, under a period of just 30 days.
It also marked the earliest passage of the budget during the Duterte administration.