(Eagle News)—–Senate President Tito Sotto described as mere “palusot” House appropriations chair Rolando Andaya’s statement the “itemizations” made by the House of Representatives in the proposed national budget ratified by Congress were “authorized” by the bicameral conference committee report.
In a statement, Sotto said the report’s omnibus motion which Andaya said authorized the technical staff of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance to “effect corrections of typographical, grammatical and printing errors, as well as the necessary adjustments as a consequence of the amendments,” only “applies to them not the entire Congress.”
“The bottom line is they touched something they shouldn’t have [touched] after ratification,” Sotto said.
“What they did affected their colleagues that’s why they complained to us, aside from the fact that Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) saw a red flag,” Sotto added.
Andaya issued the statement in separate letters to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Budget Acting Secretary Janet Abuel dated March 28, after Sotto signed the House-enrolled budget bill with what he said were the “alignments” but “with strong reservations.”
“At the end of the day the Senate exercised its power to scrutinize and challenge what is spurious in the budget,” Sotto said.
With the Senate’s signing of the bill, the ball shifts to President Rodrigo Duterte, who may or may not sign the same into law.
The government has been operating on a reenacted budget in the absence of a 2019 national budget since January.
