THE Senate and the House of Representatives should post their respective approved versions of the national budget in their websites for transparency, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian proposed yesterday.
In an interview with dzBB radio, Gatchalian said this would allow the public to view and track the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) approved by the House and the Senate version of the GAB, and compare this with the final version of the national budget bill that will be approved by the bicameral panel and transmitted to Malacañang.
He said his proposal would be on top of the suggestion to open the budget bicameral conference meetings to the public.
“So the people can see it, they can keep track of the changes, or what was added or subtracted from an agency, and what would be the final version of the GAA [General Appropriations Act]. The GAA is published by the Office of the President, but what happened in between the NEP [National Expenditure Program] and the GAB is not published. So, we really need to publish them so the people can see how the national budget was arrived at,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.
He said this could be a game-changer in ensuring full transparency in the budget process, stressing that this is necessary to ensure that programs are given the appropriate funding to ensure their proper implementation.
Gatchalian said the executive and legislative branches should practice “budget discipline” since the government is on a “tight budget,” citing a statement from the Department of Budget and Management.
“(The executive branch should have budget discipline. This means that they should talk among themselves on what can or cannot be done. And when it comes to the legislative, it should also have budget discipline where we cannot have a sudden program which was not tackled or discussed before,” he said.
He said government agencies should take the cue from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with regards to budget discipline.
“So, this means that when the President issues a directive to his secretaries and other departments, they should follow…. If I am the secretary, I should have discipline and not increase my budget or spending plan,” he added.
