ous

Deadlac,k defused
The President'!aid he will not
sign anYthing illegal, an;'thing
uiconsiitutionat as far as he is
concerned

8y lcistina Maralit and Mario J'

Mallari

The'twb houses of Congress broke iheir

i*tr.t" on lhis year's naliOnat budget wilh furn to 2
i"in in*it r*o.ti tigning congress' version' Page

ffi;irh i;;;i; pr"esiaenr !icenre "rito"

. tiir"
items.
ili'"[r.*i"e reservalions on several
rJwr PAg€ Pu "'-?
ff,L nropos"o pl.?-lrillion nadOnal budgel
r ,-ZOf6 wirf be scrulinized by Presidenl
iloafno Out"tt", houever, and Malacanang
ustu*O onJy a clean' lau{u-t budget
""J"tinv
tii tt. Chief Dxecutive's ink'
^.tit
\\ lfaAoL4i€ N87)s"
(^1)
'Viri'uous budge-t for
If he feels that it is not in violation of the
Constitution, he wiII sign it immediately
kut Wcl
budget. They have done ihat. Noq
ihe ball is in the hands of the
President,' he added,
Once the budget is transmitted
to the Office of the President,
the Chief nxecutive, according io
Panelo, will review the proposed
expenditue '\rithin a few da1s.'
"Ifuowing the President, he will
act on it immediaiely because we
need a new budget," he said.
The national goYernment has.
been operating on a reenacted
budgei since the start of the year
when both houses of Congress
initia y lailed to find common
ground for the passage of the
General Appropriations Bill.
Their leaders traded
accusations of realignments and
"insertiors' on the budget.
In his leiter, Sotto said he
signed the proposed budget "with
reserYations' and appealed to the
Chief Executive to exercise his
veto power over uunconstitutional"
provisions withi4 the spending
plan, including the aleged P?t
billion realignment for public
works.
Now, the ball is in the
ha.nds of the President.
Panelo said Mr. Duterte will
pwiew the proposed expenditures
.within a few days' and decide
"if it's consistent with the
Constitution. "
.The President said he will
not sign anlthing ilegal, anlthing
unconstitutional as far as he is
concerned. He will haye to elaluate
whether or not if the opinion of
the Senate is indeed conect,o the
'official stressed.
"It's still the President's call.
Whatever.the opinion of the
Ilouse, it will not matter with
respect to the President whether
it's unconstitutional or not.
Ever]'thing will be considered
by the President. If he feels
that it is not in Yiolation of
the Constitution, he will sign it
immediately," he said.
]
r
Sotto disclosed signing the
proposed national budget in the
presence of Mqiority Lea.der Jgan
Miguel Zubiri, Minority Leader
lYanktin Drilon and Sen. Panfilo
Lacson.
The Senate President
maintained that the P76 bilion
realignments made bY some
House leaders on the builget
.ai -the Depadment of Public
Wgrks and Ilighways (DPWH) are.
unodnstitutional.
' 'I affixed my signature
with strong reservations. My
attestation is limited only
to those items approved by
the Bicameral Conference
Committee and ratified by both
houses of Congress,' Sotto said'
Thc proposed P3.?-trillion
national budget for 2019
will be scrutinized by
President Rorlrigo Duterte.
'It is my view thai it is
unconstiqutional that P?5 billion
worth of programs/proj ects
under the local infrastncture
program ofthe DP\I/H was funded
through internal realignments,
after the Bicameral Conference
Comrnittee repoft was ratified
by realigning cuts from the
Organizdtional Outcome I and
0rganizational Outcome 2,' he
further said.
0rganization Outcome 1 is
composed of asset preservation
program, network development
irnd bridge programs while
Organizational 0utcome 2
includes flood mana.gement
programs and convergence and
. support programs - both of
DPWI1.
"The President may wish
to consider disapfroving these
unconstitutional realignments,
pursuant to his constitutional
power to veto particular items in
the general appropriations bill,"
Sotto said.
kdy,
The Senate submitted
a list of programs funded by the minority leader (Drilon). Of
the P?5 billion alleged Ilouse course, the Senate President
realigments, now f€els safe because I suppose
Sotto, however, stressed that Senator Drilon will volunteer t0 be
the Senate did'not succumb to his lffiyer if he (Sotto) is chaxged,'
pressure in signing the budget Larson sha,red.
l measure. Drilon said the signing of the
"I am just saying that to no measure "wiih r€se,rvations"
longer belabor the socalled 98 indicated that the Senaie minority
bloc is one with the m4joritYwhen
percent of the budget. We are
national interest is at stake.
questioning two to three percent
nThe compromisd soluiion we
of the budget, so might as well
have prcposed is Proof while we
approve and have it enacted as
the 2019 brrdget,t" Sotto stressed. belong to political persuasions in
Laeson said the House was the Senate, we are united for the
aware of the Senate move as he interest of the countryn Drilon
informed San Juan Rep. Ronnie said,
Zamora Monday niSht after a He stressed the Senate
me€ting with some senators who maintained its p0sition even after
Sotto signed the House vercion of
agreed on signing the measure
with reservatiqns on the I{ouse the budget. ,*rst
realignments.
'The letter of the Senate 't ffieAot/fl{ Nedsr
Pre€ideR! is persuasive. In the
final analysis, the President will
still decide',vhether to veto or R)
not,' Lacson said.
Knowing the President, he
will act on it irnnediately
because we need a new
budget.
He said the annotations
made by Sotto were upon the
advice of Drilon to protect
the Senate President from
possible legal questions in the
future by maintaining that the
enrolled budget bill contained
unconstitutional entdes.
'Ihis (signing with reser%tions)
proposal originally cam€ from .