House panel to oversee amendments to proposed nat'l budget

The House of Representatives has tasked a panel with overseeing amendments to the P2.6-trillion national budget for 2015 that the lower chamber approved last week after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reportedly said it plans to change the definition of savings for some items.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, chair of the House Appropriations committee, said the panel will be responsible for introducing amendments or correcting errata in the submitted budget.

“Rest assured [that] Congress will thoroughly and diligently review it and deal with this matter in accordance with law, rules and prevailing and recent jurisprudence of the [Supreme Court] on the same,” he said in a text message.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares is seeking the withdrawal of the House’s approval of the budget on second reading following the DBM’s supposed admission that amendments will be introduced to the national expenditure program.

“Sinabi ng DBM on the last day of the budget hearings that there will be an errata sa budget. Hindi ko pa alam ‘yung details ng errata pero tungkol ito sa pagre-redefine ng savings at realignments sa ilang budget items,” he said.

Colmenares said the 2015 national budget must be subject to plenary debates again since lawmakers were unaware of the new provisions DBM wants to insert.

When asked if the lower chamber needs to deliberate on the 2015 spending plan a second time, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said lawmakers “will follow the practice from the very beginning where amendments are tackled by [a] smaller committee.”

“[The changes] are approved or disapproved as part of the overall budget on third reading,” he said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has yet to respond to GMA News Online regarding the details of the supposed errata DBM seeks to correct.

'Wrong' budget approved

Colmenares said he and other lawmakers from the House minority bloc have asked Ungab for details about the supposed error in the proposed budget, as well as copies of the amendments DBM wants to introduce.

The lawmaker said he is wary about the errata since it might result in the creation of a bigger pork barrel fund next year.

“I don’t know the DBM’s intention why it brought up the errata just now, pero mali ang in-approve naming budget dahil hindi namin nakita ‘yung errata,” he said.

Colmenares said the House still has time to deliberate on the budget again even after it has been approved on second reading since the lower chamber has until December to pass next year’s national expenditure program.

“We can even hold hearings during the break para lang ma-discuss itong mga errata na nakita sa budget. Ang mahalaga ay makapag-deliberate kami dito, kahit sa plenary level na,” he said.

The Aquino administration’s definition of savings has been questioned following the controversy surrounding the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
 
In a unanimous vote, the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional certain acts committed under DAP, such as the withdrawal of unobligated allotments from the implementing agencies and their declaration as savings prior to the end of the fiscal year and without complying with the statutory definition of savings contained in the General Appropriations Act.
 
Section 67 of the proposed 2015 national budget now defines savings as portions of allocations that "have not been released or obligated" due to "discontinuance or abandonment of a program, activity or project for justifiable causes, at any time during the validity of the appropriations." — JDS, GMA News