Hinarangan man ng sibat:  Budget ng OP, inaprubahan ng House Appropriations Committee

INAPRUBAHAN ng House Appropriations Committee ang P27.362-billion budget ng Office of the President, sa botong 56-5.

Ito’y sa kabila ng ginawang pagkontra ng ilang opposition lawmakers sa motion to terminate para sa pagdinig ng OP budget bilang paggalang sa “institutional and parliamentary courtesy.”

Para sa limang mambabatas mula sa minorya, dapat umanong hayaan ang pagbusisi sa pondo ng Office of the President dahil pera ito ng taumbayan. Si House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan first moved to terminate the proceedings out of tradition, “subject to the clarifications and questioning of the members of the House after the motion has been approved.”

Nauna rito, nagpahayag si Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin na may ilang miyembro ng Mababang Kapulungan ng Kongreso ang nagtangka na ibaling ang sisi sa executive branch ng kanilang pansariling korapsyon at pagkabigo.

Nilinaw pa ni Bersamin na ang pahayag niyang ito ay hindi para pahiyain at siraan ang Kongreso.

“Any part of that statement is our statement. We will not shirk from that or avoid the impact. But we would like to emphasize today that that statement was more to stress our institutional separation from the House of Representatives,” ayon kay Bersamin.

“We do not intend that to rile up the tension between our departments, and as we emphasized in our opening statements, we come here seeking your support for our institutional budget. There is nothing malicious intended or to malign the House of Representatives,” aniya pa rin.

Kinumpirma ni Bersamin na ginagawa na ng Office of the President ang executive order (EO) para sa paglikha ng independent body para imbestigahan ang maanomalyang flood control projects.

Ang Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., aniya ngayon ay nasa Cambodia subalit siniguro nito sa panel na mayroong developments sa oras na bumalik na ito ng bansa.

“The objective is to do as he had promised, to come out with an independent commission or body that would continue the inquiry into the issues that were raised in his SONA (State of the Nation Address), as well as in later statements that he made,” ayon kay Bersamin.

Aniya pa, hindi pangungunahan ng EO ang Kongreso sa pagsasagawa ng sarili nitong imbestigasyon, o hadlangan ang Kongreso mula sa pagpapalabas ng batas na lilikha ng independent investigation body.

Si Deputy Speaker at Isabela 6th District Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III ang gumawa ng ‘motion to terminate the proceedings.

“In line with the long-standing tradition of extending institutional courtesy to the Office of the President, I move to terminate the budget deliberations on the proposed budget of the Office of the President without prejudice to the Constitutional authority of Congress to review, amend or deny any item in the general appropriations bill,” anito.

Ang hakbang ay kagyat na sinegundahan at pinagbotohan.

 (Daris Jose)