Amid ‘pork’ talk, solons meet behind closed doors
By Melvin Gascon
@melvingasconINQ
Lawmakers belonging to the majority coalition on Wednesday met in what they termed as a “caucus,” a day after the executive department submitted to the House of Representatives the draft 2020 national budget and amid reports this has been laden with about P35 billion-worth of pork barrel funds.
In a text message sent to lawmakers, Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur 2nd Dist Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte invited members of Congress to a meeting at the Kalayaan Hall of SM Aura in Taguig City, supposedly to discuss “the (national) budget and other pertinent matters.”
For unspecified reasons, the meeting was declared off-limits to media.
A Viber message sent to House reporters from Cayetano’s media relations office said: “One request: the caucus is not for media coverage. Those who have managed to sneak into the venue, as well as those who have yet to get there, will be sent out.”
In lieu of media coverage, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano went live on Facebook from the meeting venue just as the meeting was about to start, with members of majority bloc seen gathering in the background.
In a 1-minute video message, Cayetano said lawmakers opted to work even on a holiday supposedly to make up for lost time due to the holidays, to discuss “the budget process and other priority bills.”
“We wish to assure our countrymen that the ‘Jobs, Jobs Jobs’ from the ‘Build Build Build’ (program), Congress will match this with ‘work, work, work,’” he said.
On Tuesday, House leaders received the draft 2020 national expenditure program (NEP) amounting to P4.1 trillion from Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, two days before Congress starts marathon hearings on the budget starting Thursday.
Under the submitted NEP, more than P972.5 billion has been proposed to be earmarked for the “Build Build Build” infrastructure program through the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Transportation.
The House holds the closed-door meeting on the budget amid media reports that the proposed national budget still contained pork barrel allocations for lawmakers — P100 million members of Congress and P200 million supposedly for each senator.
House members are purportedly allotted P70 million for “hard” or infrastructure projects, while P30 million is for “soft” programs, like medical and educational assistance.
The allocations per member of Congress, along with those of their counterparts in the Senate, have been lumped in the proposed budget of the departments, to skirt a Supreme Court prohibition on “pork barrel.”
In a 2013 ruling, the Supreme Court declared the “pork barrel” system as unconstitutional, as it has “conferred legislators the power of appropriation by giving them personal, discretionary funds from which they are able to fund specific projects which they themselves determine.”
Last year, President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed portions of the 2019 spending bill which supposedly contained P75-billion worth of “insertions” by House members, but which they argued were not “pork barrel” funds.
Sought for confirmation on Wednesday’s caucus, Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Michael Defensor, downplayed speculations on why the majority bloc meeting was held behind closed doors.
“(There is) nothing really confidential. It was just to prepare the majority for the approval of the budget and priority bills, House rules and conduct in the process of approval,” he replied in a text message.
He said was not sure why it was held off-limits to media, but surmised that it was meant to supposedly have attendees’ “focus on the discussion.”
Not to be outdone, members of the House minority also held their own out-of-town meeting in Tagaytay City on Wednesday, supposedly to craft strategies on how to engage the budget deliberations, according to sources.
Aside from working even during holidays, the Lower House will work “day and night” for the whole week in the coming months and targets to complete budget deliberations by October, according to Majority Floor Leader and Leyte 1st Dist. Rep. Martin Romualdez.
“This will give the Senate ample time to scrutinize the budget approved by the House. Hopefully, we can have a bicameral conference early December, then approve the 2020 national budget before the year ends,” he said in a statement.
House leaders also decided to extend session days from Mondays to Fridays, instead of the regular Monday to Wednesday schedule, to allow exhaustive deliberation of the budget at the plenary level, Romualdez said.
Lawmakers may also have to juggle time in attending budget hearings and the regular session, according to the Majority Leader.
“House members may have to shuttle between hearings in order to maximize their participation in the budget deliberations. I am thankful that all the House members agreed to this schedule, which is really a tall order,” he said. MCG