plenary

Navotas City lone district Rep. Toby Tiangco, who has turned into a critic of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, on Thursday, July 31, spoke out against the 2025 national budget, which he said was amended before a small House committee composed of only four lawmakers.

Tiangco questioned why amendments to the General Appropriations Bill was not discussed during the plenary session, where hundreds of lawmakers were present.

"Kung walang tinatago, anong ikinatatakot nilang pag-usapan ito nang hayagan sa open session (If they are not hiding anything, what are they afraid of in terms of publicly debating it during an open session)?" he asked.

"Kung maganda ang intensyon, bakit ayaw nilang gawin din ito sa harap ng taumbayan sa plenary session? (If they really have good intentions, why don't they want to discuss it in front of the public at the plenary session)?" he added.

Tiangco was part of the majority that was supportive of the House leadership under Romualdez during the 19th Congress.

But he decided to become independent in the 20th Congress after abstaining to vote for Romualdez in the latter's eventual reelection as House Speaker.

"Dahil sa nangyari sa 2025 national budget, hindi ko na kayang suportahan ang liderato sa House of Representatives. Hindi na ito dapat mangyari ulit (Because of what happened to the 2025 national budget, I could no longer support the House leadership)," Tiangco said in a statement on July 28.

Tiangco hit back at House Spokesperson Princess Abante for criticizing him for just speaking out against the budget as he broke away from the majority.

According to the Navotas lawmaker, he tried to raise his concern as soon as he entered the lower chamber. "But it did not work," he said. He did not elaborate.

He also denied the House's allegation that it was he who insisted on amending the budget before a small committee that was only composed of four members.

He said he was aware of the House rules that the proposed budget, after the close of the plenary debates, must proceed to the consideration of committee amendments and, after, of individuals amendments.

"Ang ibig sabihin ay base sa aming rules, ang individual amendments ay talagang ginagawa sa plenary session (It means that based on our rules, individual amendments are really done during a plenary session)," he said.

He said that if the House leadership is really serious about transparency, then it must publish the minutes of the small committee meeting for the 2025 budget.

"Ngayong malinaw ang panawagan mismo ni President Bongbong Marcos sa SONA—transparency, lalo na sa budget—baka may pag-asa na (Now that President Marcos' call is really clear—transparency, especially on the budget—there might be a glimpse of hope)," he said.

In recent weeks, Speaker Romualdez has been aggressively pushing to open to the public the Bicameral Conference Committee hearings on the budget. This is an even latter, more crucial phase in the budget enactment process.

The bicam hearings are where both House members and senators make their finishing touches to the budget measure that will eventually he sent to Malacañang for the president's signature.