Congress is preparing to submit to President Duterte the proposed 2019 national budget without any last-minute realignment from the House of Representatives, a Palace official said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said House Speaker Gloria M. Arroyo has denied allegations that she ordered a budget realignment after the bicameral ratification of the 2019 budget proposal.
“According to Speaker Arroyo, as far as she knows, whatever was approved in the bicam is now the one being printed for submission to the executive,” Panelo said after his phone conversation with Arroyo. “As far as she knows, walang
daw nabago noon sa bicam,” he added.
Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson earlier bared that Arroyo allegedly tried to manipulate the ratified bicameral report on the 2019 budget by realigning the P25-million budget from the Department of Health for some congressmen.
Lacson branded Arroyo’s alleged attempt as an illegal act after the ratification of the 2019 budget. He insisted that the Constitution states that no amendment shall be allowed upon the last reading of a bill.
Even if the budget realignment was true, Panelo found nothing irregular with such action by the lawmakers. He said it was the duty of the lawmakers to “tinker” with budget preparations.
“It’s not wrong because it has not been signed into law yet, since its Congress who realigns,” he said.
The two houses of Congress ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed 2019 budget last month before going on a break for the May elections.
The government is currently operating on a reenacted budget after Congress failed to pass the budget bill last year over alleged “pork barrel” allocations.
Once the budget proposal is transmitted to Malacanang, Panelo assured the nation that President Duterte would scrutinize the proposed outlay for the year.
He earlier said the President was prepared to use his veto power to block any unlawful allocation in the proposed 2019 national budget.
Duterte would “correct” the measure if any budget allocation violates the Supreme Court ruling that declared the pork barrel system as unconstitutional, Panelo said. (Genalyn Kabiling)
