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By Leila B. Salayerria
Senate Prbsident Vicente Sot_
to IIt on Tuesday signed the
P3.8-trillion budget bill for
2or9 and sent it to Malacanans
with a letter to presiden;
Duterte advising him to veto
P75 bitlion in postratification
changes made by ttre House of the enrolled
Representatives.
Sotto's move ended a
month-and-a-half-long stale_
mate between the Senate and
thc HBu6e over pork and.:,
brought the government clos-
er to getting ffesh funds after
running on a reenacted 2o1g ,.
budget since January.
Iu ttre annotation to
bill ad-

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$0TTO $IO]I$ BUDOET
R0l'l fi
ressed to Mr. Duterte, Sotto
rid he signed the measure with' in the General Appropriations
itrong reservations" because
f the :'unconstitutional"
ranges made by the House af-
:r the congressional ratifica-
on ofthe bicameral report.
"My attestation is limited
nly to those items approved by
te bicameral conference com-
rittee and ratified by both
ouses of Congress," he said in
isletter.
"In particular, it is my view
Iat it is unconstitutional that
/5 billion worth of pro-
-ams/projects under the local
Lfrastructure prograin of the
of Public Works
epartment
rd Highways was funded
rrough internal realignments,
ter the bicameral conference
rmmittee report was ratified,"
r added.
The House realigned cuts
om the Asset Preservation
'ogram, Network Develop-
ent Program, Bridge Program,
ood Management Program,
rd Convergence and Support
ogram, he said.
He urged the President to
to the realignments.
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"The President may wish to
consider disapproving
unconstitutional realignments,
these
pursuant to his constitutional
power to veto particular items
Bill," he said.
Mr. Duterte has said he will
not sign the budget if it proves
to be illegal.
Presidentiat evaluation
Presidential spokesperson
Salvador Panelo said on Tues-
day that Mr. Duterte would
"evaluate whether or not the
opinion of the Senate is indeed
correct."
Panelo said Mr. Duterte
would review the enrolled bud-
getbill and sign it'if it is consis-
tent with the Constitution."
He issued a sfatement wel-
coming the submission of the
budget bill and commending
the Senate and the House for
ending the standoff.
' The postratification realign-
ments made by the House had
been the bone ofcontention be-
tween the two chambers and
held up the approval of the
spending measure for weeks.
Sotto had said he did not
want to sign an unconstitutional
document, while the House in-
sisted that it only itemized lump-
/ MARCH 27, 2019
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crucial governmcnt projects
and programs could confinue
and the economy need not slow
down.
His proposal, as contained in
Sotto's letter, allows the S0nate
to maintain its position thal the
postratification realigDln('nts
are unconstitutional, whllc not
prejudicing national intere$l hy
holding on to the budget bill, hc
explained.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said thls
was not exactly passing thc
problem to the President, be"
cause it is the Chief Executivc
anyway who would declde
whether to veto items in the
budget or to conditionally im-
plement proiects.
Lacson said he had informed
the House and Malacanang
about the Senate's decision on
lT'S NOW UP TO THE PRESIDENT Senate President Vicente Sotto lll, shown here with Senators the budget before Sotto signe
Franklin Drilon, Panfilo Lacson and Juan Miguel Zubiri, says on Tuesday he signed the budget bill the bill with reservatiDns.
"to no longer belabor the so-called 98 percent of the budget," as the questioned portion was only Sotto said he did not signth
about 2 percent of the measure. -SENATE pHoTo budget bill because he was presl
sured.
The Senate had been read
sum amounts in the measure. He said the decision tosign as the questioned portion was to play hardball because it kne
the bill with reservations was onlyabout2 perceirt ofthe mea- it was on the side of the Consti-
Drilon's solution the suggestion of Minority sure. tution, he said, but it found a so-
But his latest move broke Leader Franklin Drilon, a for- "It's up to the President, it's lution thatwould allow the bud-
the impasse, andhe believed his meriustice secretary. up to the executive depart- get to proceed without the
letter to the President shielded Sotto said he signed the bill ment," he added. chamber backing down, -wrrH a
him from any tegal liability that "to no longer belabor the so- Drilon said he suggested the REPOFT FROM CHNISfINE O, AVEN.
mightdrise. called 98 percent ofthe budgetJi "compromise solution" so that rDAfto INQ
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