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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 10) – The House of Representatives can approve the proposed budget for 2021 within the special session called by President Rodrigo Duterte, said the head of the appropriations panel amid concerns from other lawmakers that four days is not enough to analyze the project of expenses law.
“Approving the budget on October 16 is very, very viable,” Rep. Eric Yap, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told CNN Philippines on Saturday.
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano will meet with lower house leaders on October 12 to discuss plans for resuming budget hearings the following day, Yap said. He said he will attend the meeting along with House Majority Leader and Rules Committee Chairman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Vice Chairman LRay Villafuerte, among others.
Yap said there are two options: withdraw the approval of the second reading and reopen the plenary debates, or approve the budget in the third and final reading before October 16, before the recess of Congress.
In a live Facebook video late Saturday afternoon, Cayetano said there is already a group with “majority members” to work on the budget over the weekend, showing an ongoing video conference on his laptop.
“I beg everyone to put politics aside first, let’s work together on the budget first,” Cayetano said. “At least our group, I can assure you compatriots, we will focus on the budget.”
[Translation: I am appealing to all, let us set aside politics and work together for the budget. At least our group, I can assure you, fellow Filipinos, we will be focusing on the budget.]On Tuesday, Cayetano moved abruptly to approve the General Appropriations Bill in second reading and suspend the session until November 16. This measure is seen as preventing Marinduque’s representative Lord Allan Velasco from assuming the main post on October 16 despite the shared term agreement negotiated by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.
Duterte called a special session of Congress on Friday from October 13-16, which will bring the House back together. It also certified the budget bill as urgent. This came a day after he addressed the budget mess in an unscheduled public speech, repeatedly telling the warring factions in Congress to resolve the issue immediately or else he would take action.
While lawmakers, including Cayetano and Velasco, welcomed the president’s move, some say the four-day period is too short to pass the budget. Albay’s representative, Edcel Lagman, asked the president on Saturday to add four more days, possibly from October 19 to 22, so that the amendments can be discussed and approved by the plenary.
Meanwhile, Bagong Henerasyon Party roster representative Bernadette Herrera-Dy said the 25-member capacity limit in the session hall should be lifted to allow more lawmakers to physically attend the session, subject to the rules of the session. social distancing. Some of the congressmen who were present through the Zoom teleconferencing platform during the last hearing complained that they were put into “silence” during the vote, but Vice President Neptali Gonzales, an ally of Cayetano, said it was “for technical reasons. “.
Some senators previously expressed concern that alleged political maneuvering in the House will lead to a reworked budget, meaning that the country will be executed using the previous year’s financial plan. This is avoided with the convocation of the president for an extraordinary session, said the president of the Senate, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
Senators will also hold a caucus on Monday to discuss the budget, Senator Miguel Zubiri said.
The proposed national spending plan of ₱ 4.5 trillion for next year includes funds for pandemic response and recovery, including subsidies to industries in crisis and vaccine purchases.
Lois Calderon and Eimor Santos of CNN Philippines contributed to this report.
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