A House minority bloc official who used to be a ranking member of the majority bloc has vowed a thorough scouring of the proposed 2023 national budget.
According to Deputy Minority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera, the budget being sought by the executive branch will “pass through the eye of the needle” at the House of Representatives.
“Basta po sa amin sa minority ina-assure po natin ang ating mga kababayan na dadaan sa butas ng karayom ito pong budget na ito. Bubusisiin po namin (As far as we in the minority are concerned, we assure our countrymen that this budget will pass through the eye of the needle. We will scrutinize it)," Herrera, a deputy speaker during the previous 18th Congress, said in recent radio interview.
The House of Representatives is expected to receive on Monday, Aug. 22, the proposed P5.268-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2023.
The NEP, which will become the basis of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), represents the first full-year national budget of the Marcos administration.
The House leadership aims to pass the 2023 national budget “in less than 30 working days”—from the time it is submitted to Congress until it hurdles third and final reading in plenary.
Given the time constraints, Herrera appealed to the majority to give every member of the minority the opportunity to ask questions to the heads of government agencies pertaining to their respective budget proposals and other related issues.
“Kaya sabi po namin sa majority: ‘Kayo ang mag-adjust sa minority dahil ilan lang naman kami.’ Bigyan kami ng pagkakataon na itanong lahat ng dapat naming itanong (Thus, our message to the majority is: You should adjust to the minority since there's very few of us. Give us the opportunity to ask everything that we need to ask),” Herrera said.
Herrera said House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan will assign each minority lawmaker to a task that they will perform during the budget hearings.
“Sa akin naman ang una kong tinitingnan ay ang absorptive capacity ng isang departamento. Ano ba ang ginastos ninyo o sumobra ba kayo sa gastos? Gayundin ‘yung speed ng paggastos (For me, the first thing I look at is the absorptive capacity of a department. What did you spend on, or did you overspend? The same thing with how fast they spent the money),” Herrera said.
The veteran partylist lawmaker said the agency’s absorptive capacity is “very important and critical” in the budget process.
“Kritikal po ‘yan (That's critical) because that says how the department spent money, kasi paano ka mabibigyan ng pera kung ‘di mo naman alam kung paano gastusin ng tama (because how can you be appropriated with funds if you don't know to how to spend it properly),” she pointed out.
The House or the lower chamber possesses the power of the purse, of basically the power to allocate the budget for any given agency during a particular year.