President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Photo courtesy of KJ Rosales/PPA Pool)

As expected, the House Committee on Appropriations extended "parliamentary courtesy" to the Office of the President (OP) Tuesday, Sept. 5, resulting to the swift termination of the deliberation on its proposed P10.7-billion budget for 2024.

And also as expected, the militant Makabayan bloc tried--and failed--to stop this swift termination.

The OP's 2024 budget--which Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin presented to the appropriations panel--was tackled in just a total of nine minutes.

Abra lone district Rep. Ching Bernos was the one who moved for the budget termination after Bersamin's short presentation.

“As part of our long-standing tradition and practice of the House of Representatives and the committee of the Appropriations to extend parliamentary courtesy of the Office of the President may I move that we terminate the budget hearing of the Office of the President,” Bernos said.

Makakabayan member ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro quickly objected and insisted that the reasons for her objection be heard.

When Appropriations committee Senior Vice Chairperson Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo assured the three members of the Makabayan that they would be allowed to make manifestations after she rules on the motion, Castro withdrew her objection.

The nine-minute budget deliberation is the shortest so far in the ongoing budget hearings. Previously, the shortest budget hearing this year involved the Office of the Vice President (OVP), which clocked in at 14 minutes.

Another militant solon, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, made a fresh objection after the ruling and claimed that the OP budget was being "railroaded". He was only appeased when Quimbo said their manifestations would be kept on record as the proceedings would only be suspended after they've spoken.

Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan favored the move to extend courtesy to the OP, for as long as the manifestations would be heard. The Makabayan is part of the Minoroty bloc.

In her manifestation, Castro said, “'Courtesy?' 'Respect?' Hindi ba’t mas mataas ang utang na courtesy at respeto ng mga ahensya ng gubyerno sa mamamayan laluna ang Office of the President? (Doesn't government agencies, especially the Office of the President owe a higher form of courtesy and respect to the people?)"

"Dapat na buksan ang budget ng Office of the President sa pagtatanong ng mga miyembro ng komiteng ito at ng Kamara, dahil tungkulin natin sa ilalim ng Konstitusyon na ihapag ang lahat ng concerns ng taumbayan kung saan napupunta ang mga buwis nila," she added.

(The OP budget should be opened for questioning by the members of his committee and of Congress, because it's our duty under the Constitution to lay out all the people’s concerns on how their taxes were used.)

During his presentation, Bersamin said the OP needs the proposed P10.7-billion budget “to perform its various roles and discharge its myriad duties efficiently and effectively".

But he said the amount is “a 1/9th of 1 percent” of the proposed P5.768-trillion budget for next year.