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Week 3 highlights: Most intriguing angles from House #budgetprocess
Week 3 highlights: Most intriguing angles from House #budgetprocess
The power of the purse belongs to the House of Representatives, and for this reason the lower chamber has embarked on a mission to pass the P5.268-trillion proposed national budget for 2023 on or before Oct. 1 this year.
The per agency budget deliberations on the 2023 spending plan--easily the most tedious part of the budget process--began in earnest on Aug. 30 and ended on Sept. 16.
With the third week of budget deliberations already in the books, here were the three most intriguing highlights from the various House Committee on Appropriations hearings during the week that was:
1. OVP budget briefing terminated quicker than OP budget briefing
The House Committee on Appropriations invoked "courtesy" anew in the speedy termination of the budget deliberation of the Office of the Vice President.
To her credit, Vice President Sara Duterte took the time to personally appear before the House panel last Sept. 14. But the solons didn't make it hard for her as the budget briefing for her office was ended after less than five minutes.
This beat the seven-minute "record" of the Office of the President from the previous week that was attended by then-Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez.
In both cases, the Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co-led appropriations panel waived interpellations on the proposed budget of the two offices.
Duterte didn't leave the House following the termination of the OVP budget and stayed for the briefing of the Department of Education (DepEd) budget, which she heads as concurrent secretary.
2. Marcoleta asks intriguing question to Commission on Human Rights
Count on SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta to always ask the intriguing questions.
During the appropriations panel's consideration of the Commission on Human Rights' (CHR) budget last Sept. 15, Marcoleta asked CHR Executive Director Jacqueline De Guia if any of his "human rights" were violated when his advisor for his doctoral dissertation at the University of the Philippines (UP) "dropped" him.
The reason for his being dropped? In 2017, Marcoleta moved during the budget plenary debates that the CHR be allocated a budget of only P1,000. His motion earned the plenary's nod.
De Guia acknowledged Marcoleta’s point and said that the CHR would look into the matter.
“Meron po tayong (We do have the) right to education and of course we would want to make sure that everyone is able to access that right,” she said.
3. No new equipment, weapons for AFP anytime soon
In a rather depressing admission, Department of National Defense (DND) Officer-in-Charge and Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr. told the appropriations panel during the agency's budget briefing last Sept. 15 that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) might not have the funds to buy new equipment or weapons for the next few years.
This, despite the allocation of P40 billion for the AFP's modernization next year under the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget.
“Yung P40-billion na modernization budget namin for 2023 ay pambayad po lamang sa ating mga multi-year obligations (Our P40-billion modernization budget for 2023 will be used to pay our multi-year obligations),” Faustino said.
“Yung nakalinya na po dito yung ating babayaran sa susunod na taon and kung mananatili po itong trend na ito, sa aming pag-aaral ay sa susunod na dalawa hanggang tatlong taon ay wala po tayong mabibili na bagong kagamitan (We’ve lined up what we need to pay for next and if this trend continues, based on our study we won’t be able to purchase new equipment for the next two to three years),” he added.