THE House of Representatives kicks off today plenary debates on the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023, aiming to approve the general appropriations bill (GAB) on third and final reading by September 28.
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, a senior vice chair of the House committee on appropriations, said the House leadership is on track to meet its self-imposed deadline of passing the budget before it goes on a month-long break on October 1.
“We have not approved anything yet (at the committee level). We’ll begin plenary debates tomorrow (Tuesday). The approval, the earliest will happen on September 28,” she told the Laging Handa briefing aired on PTV4.
Quimbo said the House was able to meet its target of wrapping up committee deliberations on the budget on or before September 16.
The lawmaker vowed to scrutinize the budget to the last detail and assured the public that the House will not take shortcuts “because we’re ready to stay until midnight to do it.”
“We will scrutinize the budget thoroughly,” Quimbo said. “If things go well, by September 28, we can end the period of debates and if it’s certified as urgent (by the President), then we can already approve it on third reading on September 28.”
She said the budget hearings were expedited through simultaneous briefings while giving House members alternative communication lines with the various departments and agencies to allow them to raise their issues and concerns.
“We were also very strict din with time management. When a congressman asks a question, it’s really limited to five minutes each,” said the lawmaker, who is an economist.
Quimbo also reacted to Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT), a member of the Makabayan bloc, who earlier said Congress should stop its “practice of servility” to the Office of the President (OP) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) every budget season and really give time to lawmakers to scrutinize their budget proposals.
The appropriations panel senior vice chair insisted that the tradition of extending parliamentary courtesy to offices of the country’s two highest officials must be respected by Congress, adding that the budget proposals will still be discussed in the plenary.
“It has long been a standing tradition, it’s something we need to respect,” she said.
“Parliamentary courtesy happens in the budget briefings but when it comes to the plenary, the OP and OVP will still be there.”
Castro and fellow Makabayan bloc member Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela) last week questioned why they were not allowed to ask questions when the Office of the Vice President’s proposed P2.3 billion budget for 2023 was approved by the panel in less than seven minutes in the presence of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The militant lawmakers wanted to know how the OVP’s proposed P500 million confidential fund will be spent, noting that Duterte, in her capacity as concurrent secretary of the Department of Education, also has another P150 million on confidential funds for the department.
It was minority leader Marcelino Libanan who moved to terminate the budget briefing, saying members of the minority bloc who want to ask questions on the OVP’s budget like members of the Makabayan bloc, will just do so when the budget reaches plenary deliberations.
Quimbo however said she expects the minority bloc to play its role of “fiscalizer” when the budget reaches the plenary while the majority bloc will defend the money measure.
“The minority will play a very important role of fiscalizer, a counter force, so to speak.
There will be debates, the minority will fiscalize and the majority will be there to defend the budget,” she said.
