CONGRESSMEN swiftly ended deliberations on the Office of the President’s (OP) P27.36-billion budget on Monday, sidestepping scrutiny over secret funds and the Executive’s plan to resolve alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
House of Representatives Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. Marcelino C. Libanan moved for the termination of the budget hearing as part of “institutional and parliamentary courtesy” to the Executive.
The motion was adopted by the majority of the House appropriations committee even as some members of the panel objected to the budget’s quick approval and argued that no agency should be exempt from congressional scrutiny.
“Now, of all times, is not the moment for parliamentary courtesy but for full transparency in the budget process,” Deputy Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. Antonio L. Tinio told lawmakers during a House hearing.
Lawmakers have traditionally refrained from scrutinizing the OP’s budget, invoking long-standing parliamentary courtesy extended to the sitting president.
“No other than the President himself has said that there must be transparency and accountability, especially with regard to the discussion of the national budget… so we must scrutinize the OP budget in that spirit,” Party-list Rep. Elijah R. San Fernando told lawmakers in the same hearing.
Mr. Tinio said the OP should explain its P4.5-billion allocation to confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), amid concerns involving Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s alleged misuse of secret funds.
CIFs are meant to finance surveillance and intelligence information gathering activities, according to a 2015 joint circular between the Commission on Audit, Defense, Budget and Interior and Local Government departments.
“There are so many issues that need to be raised and answered,” he said.
He added that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. bears a responsibility to confront and resolve the alleged large-scale corruption tied to flood control projects.
“President Marcos certified as urgent the three national budgets under his term — 2023, 2024 and 2025 — and signed the corresponding General Appropriations Acts,” he said in Filipino. “Across these budgets, nearly P1 trillion was allocated to flood control projects.”
About P545 billion was channeled towards flood control projects since 2022, Mr. Marcos said in early August, noting that 15 contractors bagged about P100 billion or 20% of the total funds.
Reports of substandard flood control projects worth billions of pesos have fueled public outrage in a country increasingly vulnerable to severe flooding, with critics citing incomplete, poorly built or non-existent infrastructure.
Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin said on Sunday an executive order (EO) creating an independent body to look into spurious flood control projects has been submitted to Mr. Marcos.
“Once he returns, maybe there will be some developments as far as that goes,” he told lawmakers at the House hearing, adding the proposed EO has a sunset provision automatically terminating its authority.
“The initial discussion in the Executive is that whatever commission is created by Presidential Fiat would have a timeline,” he said. “It becomes your privilege to look at it in the same way and maybe pass a law or laws regarding the investigation of these anomalies.”
House Deputy Minority Leader and Caloocan Rep. Edgar R. Erice said the Liberal Party would file a bill that would provide the proposed commission “coercive and subpoena powers” to help its investigation into questionable flood control deals.
“This commission will be extremely weak if it doesn’t summon private individuals to testify,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the hearing.
Also on Monday, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said that lawmakers did not intend to provoke an institutional clash with the Presidential Palace after the chamber sought to return the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for next year back to the Budget department.
“If our deliberations have caused any discomfort, we ask for understanding,” he said in a statement. “The House’s duty is not to cast blame but to ensure that every peso in the budget is transparent, accountable and truly for the people.”
The Cabinet last week criticized lawmakers for what it described as an attempt to shift blame to the Executive amid issues hounding questionable flood control deals.
“We recognize that there are issues that must be addressed, and we begin by putting our own House in order,” said Mr. Romualdez, alluding to the Cabinet’s remarks for lawmakers to “clean your house first.”
Mr. Bersamin said they issued the statement to “raise the confidence” of the Executive and to elicit support from the House amid efforts to resolve the allegations of corruption in flood control projects.
“It was more to emphasize our constitutional position and separation, and to elicit cooperation and support from the House of Representatives more than any other,” he said.
“This is not a clash of institutions,” Mr. Romualdez said. “It is a partnership in accountability and service.” — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
