Lower House begins today scrutiny of ‘pork-free’ gov’t fund

The House of Representatives will begin today its plenary deliberations on the Duterte administration’s first proposed national budget of P3.35 trillion for 2017.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, will sponsor and defend the proposed 2017 P3.35-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

“We will begin the two-week marathon deliberations [from Monday to Friday] on the national budget to approve this (on third and final reading) by the third week of next month and transmit this to the Senate,” he said.

Nograles is expected to defend the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte will sponsor the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies and defend the budget of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Government Commission for Government-owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs).

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who served as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations in the past Congress, will defend the budget of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and its attached agencies.

The proposed budget for 2017 is 11.6 percent higher than last year’s P3.002 trillion.

It reflects the Duterte administration’s priorities next year as it intensifies efforts to combat crime, illegal drugs and corruption, enhance economic growth through regional development, and bring about other reforms, Nograles said.

“We will have a budget responsive to the people’s needs and in support of President Duterte’s thrusts, priorities and call for change,” he said.

House Majority Floor Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo “Rudy” Fariñas, another stalwart of the PDP-Laban, said they are set to ratify the proposed 2017 General Appropriations Act on December 14, 2016.

“We will pass the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) in time for the President to sign it into the General Appropriations Act (GAA) on or before we adjourn on December 14. This will be the first National Expenditure Program (NEP) of President Rody and we will see his priorities for his first year in office,” he said.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez maintained that President Duterte’s first national budget is not littered with “pork” allocations.

“There is no pork barrel, it has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. I do not intend to violate it and (Budget) Secretary (Bejamin) Diokno will not allow it,” Alvarez said.

He said lawmakers were already stripped of their power over lump sum congressional allocations, recognizing that they will only court cases if they will revive the old pork barrel system.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Charissa Luci

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