By Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA
MANILA — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the House of Representatives to “physically retrieve” its version of the proposed 2019 national budget from the Senate.
“I welcome the retrieval, I could have sent it back for being unfaithful to what was approved by the bicam and ratified in plenary but I did not as prudence dictates,” Sotto told reporters in a group message.
“Our Congress is bicameral. It’s very elementary,” Sotto added.
Sotto earlier maintained the Senate’s position not to accept the House version of the 2019 spending bill, which allegedly contained post-ratification realignments.
Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed the House leadership realigned some PHP95.1 billion worth of funds in the 2019 budget to favored districts.
House appropriations committee chair Rolando Andaya Jr. said they dispatched the House Secretary General to the Senate to physically retrieve the budget books in line with Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s instruction to “allow a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.”
Andaya, however, clarified that the House is not withdrawing or backtracking on its earlier position.
“We maintain that the House did nothing unconstitutional, illegal, or irregular when we approved and ratified the 2019 GAB (General Appropriations Bill) in plenary session,” Andaya said.
Andaya noted that the Speaker ordered the formation of a three-man House team that would meet with their Senate counterparts to address contentious issues on the 2019 GAB within five days.
“We hope that the contingents from the Senate and the House can agree to a common venue for a formal discussion on the issues and not debate on the merits of their position through the media,” Andaya added.
Sotto said he will ask Lacson and Senate finance committee chair Loren Legarda to sit with the House leadership on the budget issue.
