IT is now all in the hands of a Bicameral Conference Committee which will draw up the final form of the 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
The committee met Tuesday on the House and the Senate versions of the national budget bill of P4.5 trillion. “We will encode it by December 9 and have the budget printed by the third week of December and have it on the President’s desk for his signature,” said Rep. Eric Yap, head of the House contingent in the Conference Committee.
Yap is chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. He represents the ACT-CIS (Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support partylist) which was declared the No. 1 partylist in the 2021 election. He is also caretaker of Benguet district in the House.
The Senate contingent is led by Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. He is with the party Lapian ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).
The biggest disparity between the House and Senate bills lies in the appropriations for the Department of Public Works and Highways. Sen. Panfilo Lacson has questioned huge sums for public works projects in some in congressional districts, as much as P15 billion for one Mindanao district. Many projects also had double appropriations, involving billions of pesos.
On the other hand, Congressman Yap said last Monday that the House bill remains “pork barrel-free.” The final changes in the House bill, he said, were made by the Department of Public Works and Highways. “I did not see any pork barrel in my review of the GAB,” he said. “All I can see is a budget that can help the Filipino people fight COVID-19 and other disasters.”
The Constitution provides in Section 24 of Act V (Legislative Department): “All appropriations, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.”
This indicates the primary role of the House in the matter of the National Appropriation Bill, but it also acknowledges an important role for the Senate in proposing amendments. In the 2021 National Appropriation Bill, some senators have questioned some public works funds but Congressman Yap was firm in saying the House bill was “pork-barrel free.”
We will know soon enough which side will have its way. Or perhaps, they will be able, as they have in the past, to make allowances and adjustments through amendments that will be acceptable to all in the committee. The people will be watching the proceedings with Senator Lacson’s charges in mind.
