Quimbo explains why Gomez's request to appro panel is a no-no

A member of the House Committee on Rules will know such long-standing tradition of giving preferential treatment to minority congressmen.

Veteran solon Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo had this to say Tuesday, Sept. 6, during the weekly Ugnayan news forum at the House of Representatives.

"Matagal na po na ganyan ang tradition (That has been a long-time tradition). It is written in our rules, so palagay ko (so I think), especially the members of the rule committee ay makakaintindj po bakit ganyan po ang ating ginagawa (they will understand why we are doing that)," she underscored.

Quimbo gave this response to a manifestation Monday by neophyte Iloilo 4th district Rep. Richard Gomez wherein the latter sought from the appropriations panel better odds for majority congressmen like himself to interpellate early in the ongoing budget deliberations.

"Every time po we open the floor for questions, we always begin with the explanation that we have a long-standing and cherished tradition in the House of Representatives and its clear in our rules that we give preferential to the minority," Quimbo noted.

"And so, alternating po ang pagtawag sa minority at majority during interpellation (we call on the minority and majority interpellators in an alternating fashion)," she said.

Quimbo is a senior vice chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations, which is the panel that has been carrying out the per agency budget briefings in connection with the P5.268-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Gomez, on the other hand, is a member of the powerful Committee on Rules by way of his designation as assistant majority leader.

During Monday afternoon's budget briefing with Department of Agriculture (DA) officials, a miffed Gomez asked if the rules for interpellation or questioning could be changed in a way that just one minority member would be called per four or five majority members, instead of the customary 1:1 ratio.

This, as the actor-turned-lawmaker complained of the sheer waiting time that the congressmen in queue have to endure just to ask questions the invited agency officials.

Gomez said that he thought such request to change the procedure was the call of the appropriations committee chairman.

It should be noted that out of the 311 House members in the 19th Congress, 25 belong to the minority bloc. What this means is, the fewer minority solons will always finish their interpellations first as a group while their majority counterparts are left to compete against each other for those early interpellation slots.

In the end, the appropriations panel continued the budget briefing following the 1:1 rule. Monday's proceedings lasted for nine hours.