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 House members have switched to the next phase of the #budgetprocess, which is the sponsorship and debates phase. In this phase, the vice chairmen of the Committee of Appropriations take on the plenary itself as they try to convince their colleagues that the departments and agencies are worthy of their individuals budgets.
With the fourth week of budget deliberations already in the books, here were the three most intriguing highlights House plenary debates during the week that was:
1. Lagman lectures House newbies on 'Masagana' program
For this year's #budgetprocess, Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman has generously taken on the role of educator, knowing full well that half of the 19th Congress is composed of either neophyte or returning congressmen.
Last Sept. 23, Lagman stood at the podium to lecture about history of the "Masagana" rice harvest program during the debate on the Department of Agriculture's (DA) proposed budget for 2023. It was a lecture because he neither asked questions nor forced a reply from the budget sponsor.
The gist of his speech was his fear of "history repeating itself" with Masagana, since the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is reportedly planning to revive the program.
The first iteration of the program, dubbed "Masagana 99", was launched during the time of the incumbent President’s father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. "M-99 became, more or less, a massive dole-out program,” Lagman recalled.
“In a 2012 study, researchers at the state-funded Philippine Institute for Development Studies noted how Masagana 99 failed to uplift the still-struggling farm sector as apart from leaving poor farmers highly indebted, their non-repayment of loans also tarnished the balance sheets of many rural banks (800 rural banks went bankrupt),” he said.
“The impact was widely felt since at the time, Masagana 99 increased the proportion of agricultural loans to total bank loan portfolio to 50 percent from just 7 percent before the program was initiated,” noted the Bicolano.
Only 3.7 percent of small farmers is said to have benefited from the original Masagana 99.
- DOH's continued snub of Basilan General Hospital angers Hataman
Over two decades of frustration boiled over for Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman during the plenary debate on the Department of Health's (DOH) proposed budget last Sept. 22.
So mad was Hataman that the usually cool budget sponsor, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo, was seen panicking for the first time in the debates over the possibility that the DOH budget could get deferred.
All that the Mindanao solon wanted was a clear answer as to was why the DOH hasn't coverted the state-run Basilan General Hospital from a level one hospital to a level three hospital. And it has been a 24-year wait.
"May problema ba ang DOH sa Basilan? Ayaw niyo ba tulungan ang mga taga-Basilan (Does the DOH have a problem with Basilan? Do you not want to help the people of Basilan)?” Hataman asked.
“Kung hindi lang din gagawin ng DOH ang kanyang obligasyon, tingin ko walang dahilan kung bakit pondohan ang DOH (If the DOH won’t fulfill its obligations, I don’t see a reason why we should fund them),” he said, after which he moved to defer the budget approval of the DOH.
Hataman implicitly took back the motion only after Quimbo, through assurances given by the DOH, told him that the agency would "facilitate and have the application for the license to operate for 100-bed capacity by November 2022".
3. Bosita curious with Nebrija's career path
When observers in the House of Representatives first realized that Riders' Safety Advocates of the Philippines (RSAP) founder Bonifacio Bosita was going to be a congressman, one of the first questions on their minds was, "Will Bosita ever face off with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority's (MMDA)'s Edison Bong Nebrija in a House inquiry?"
During the plenary debate on the MMDA's proposed budget last Sept. 21, Bosita asked budget sponsor Quimbo several questions about Nebrija's career path in the agency.
At one point, 1-Rider Party-list representative asked if Nebrija would get promoted soon, given the latter's caliber.
“May balak po ba kayo na siya ay bigyan ng mas maganda at mas mataas na position? Commensurate doon sa kanyang qualification? (Do you plan to give him a better and higher position? One that is commensurate to his qualification?)” Bosita asked, to which the sponsor replied, “Kaka-promote pa lang po ni Colonel Nebrija. Palagay ko ay hindi pa (Colonel Nebrija had just been promoted. I think another promotion won’t happen yet)."
Nebrija, a retired colonel, currently holds the title of task force special operations and anti-colorum unit head at the MMDA. He was the erstwhile EDSA traffic czar.
Bosita figured in a viral tit-for-tat with Nebrija on social media last year over whether or not it was all right for motorcycle back-riders to wear slippers instead of shoes. The two have a huge number of social media followers who aren't shy to defend their respective "idols".
1-Rider Party-list was the second highest vote-getter during May 2022 party-list race, next only to ACT-CIS Party-list.