Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma earned major brownie points from House of Representatives members Thursday, Sept. 8 when he declined to suggest an amount that the solons could add to the agency's proposed budget for 2023.

Laguesma led the DOLE contingent that faced members of the appropriations panel for their budget hearing Thursday.

In his interpellation of Laguesma, Deputy Speaker and TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza expressed his support to the committee's "strong commitment to increase its budget".

To give the legislators a better idea of the agency’s needs, Mendoza asked Laguesma point-blank, "Magkano ba talaga kailangan niyo Mr. Secretary? (How much do you actually need?)...Are you happy with the budget?"

Instead of giving a figure, the DOLE chief told the congressmen: "Hindi po ako magtatakda kung magkano. Iyon po ay iyong domain. Ang akin pong tungkulin, ipatupad po kung anong mandate ang ibibigay po ninyo (I will not set an amount. That is your domain. My job is to implement whatever mandate you give us)."

"Kayo po ang lumilikha ng batas...kayo po ang...nagbibigay ng suporta at resources. Kami po ay magpapatupad ayon po sa inyong ipagkakaloob na suporta at tulong sa . Daghang salamat (You are the crafter of laws...you are...the ones who provide support and resources. We will be the implementers based on the support and assistance that you will give. Thank you very much)," Laguesma said.

The presiding officer at the budget briefing, Quezon 2nd district Rep. David Suarez, was surprised and impressed with the Cabinet official's response.

"To the members of the committee, this is the first time I've seen a secretary not mention an amount of which he wants his budget to be increased. Indeed, commendable. Thank you very much," said Suarez, an appropriations panel vice chairman.

"Medyo nagugulat lang ako, kasi yung ibang mga secretaries, pag tinanong mo kung magkanong gustong increase, mayroon na silang amount na ipapakiusap (I'm a bit surprised because other secretaries would already have an amount in mind if you ask them how big of an increase they want)," he said.

DOLE's proposed budget for 2023 under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) is P25.899 billion. This is a hefty 29.9 decrease from its 2022 enacted budget of P36.940 billion.

The House of Representatives, using its "power of the purse", may still augment the DOLE budget--or any agency budget for that matter--since the NEP is just a proposal. However, the solons cannot go beyond the total 2023 NEP worth P5.268 trillion set by the executive branch.

In the end, Laguesma said DOLE would "happily accept" whatever increase in the budget that the House can grant them.