_-.-.

. . r r i
Noerales ;timites the Lower House would be able

WEDNESDAY I aUeusr 28, 2019

iii
fr oDi
THE Pl.l INE gTAR
13' uoJt""" the proposed 2020 GAA bill befote
to apf,love before both
chatitbe"s of the igth Cottgress adjourn for vacati-o-n on
Qet,e{a Ehny wi}l resr*roe, ihe,ir sqq|eiono, ager t$q U+daor
hplidafF pn Nov''S.
COMMONSENSE hihe eve of the Senate scrutiny of the' 2020 GAB, a
ssial media staff of one Senator posted this on TWitter
MARrcHU'A. VILLANUEVA v",ti"od"v. "As he prepares to engage in yet another game
6f taoi"a-seeK isainst pork in-ttie 2020 national budget,
Sen. I-acson is enhsEng the.help of the public in exposing
such dubious insertions and useless appropriations"'
--'Of
Lacson sharpens his i course, this rifers to Sen. pa-nfilo Lacson who
' has made a vow to scrutinize the annual budge! with
'hide-and'seek' skills fine+oothed comb, edpecially targeting the -outlawed
pork-barrel" allocations wherevlr it -1ay..p9 jound'
A s submitted alreadY to the
lriakine allusion to a children's play called "hide-and-
seek'i,u"to^ has exposed to light multi-million, if not
' billions of pesos *o.th of questionable "insertions" in
An:l*',fi l"'Ji',ia;l*l;l
administrationl national
tf* p"tt nlt went into the Fresidenfs budget through
nance the s
coneressional amendments.
expenditure Program (l-'lEP) nft9 dt of those whiih Lacson uncovered was the so-called
fourth year into office. of President "parking"" of funds that were re-aligned ttl Serli o(ecu-
Rodriso Duterte. Although the ti-ve depirtrnents. Thus, these stirred Sllggations thatsome
aonroial of the annual General O"t".tl, Cabinet officials partook of these "pork-barrel-
,e,'f proptiations, Bill,
otigittutu froq
onqrnate
!GtB].
th-e House t,r
ffom flle.flutrDe
Ti:t
r\sy-
of ReP- I likd, allocations in the 20i9 budget. This was one of the
,'
the budfet impasse that delayed
t"rE"i"ti""s, the Senate can conduct already their o*n . conUoversies that caused
the approval into law of the 2019 GAA.
p,rUti" hearings on the proposed 2020 budgel' By l^rfY 'nvi, cannot afford another budgetimpasse next yeag,"
bf traditiorU b'oth chambers have agreed to do tnrs rn
,Nograles cited.'
fast-tracking the approval of the GAB' i '"truu have a lot onourplate. So we call uponCongress
As sooni, Pt"Jih"ttt Duterte qettles down frosr his
Alrcxi irro* that the budget is wi'th them," Nograles urged them
fateJ official trip to Chin+ Calinet Secretary Karlo 'during our Kapillnn sa Manilo
Nograles disclosed, the Legislatiy.e-Exe9qg"e Develop-
\oy last week.
No"grales pointed to the deiayed-approval of the
*""Tt ea"isory Council (LIDAC) would be converied budeeTlaw tfiis year as having slowed down economic
at Malacaflang ;;;;f"fter. The President leaves for *to#ttt proiections in the firsihalf of 2019. "Right now
return to Manila on Sept' L'
- -hria"todav ind would
Beiiine iu"'r" ori catch up on spending due to the dgl-ayed 20L9
from the 2020 GAB, the Cabinet Secretary i.s budget law, so vie're having lite spendi11i'h; yed.
."f;A;; ;i th" adrninistrstion priority bills that each FI'", ho*ever, laughed off reported possible new
Cabinet"Cluster has recommended for disctissions at attempts to bring inTpork-barrel-1ike" allocadons al-
thu ptesidentls LEDAC ineeting with the key leaders Jegediy embedde? in the President' s2020 GAB' a'All of
;i t1'u'rsth Congress. "We hev"e legislative m'ea*'ei*" thl"- (budset provisions) are itemized and identified
that the presideit prioritizes and we hope Congress and goes *ilo.tgn scrutiny of Congresswhichhas power
*ili i"H"er.the ru*u for the remaining three years,'f to amend i!" he pointed out.
Noerales pointed out. "But obviouslv we hope Congress will stay true to
" "ff;;;;[ruh;J-Palace's optimism there won't be their commihn"t'tf to pass ind I kn-ow andl'm confident
u"u tl?"ut of the "budget impdsse" that stalled the ap- thatSpeaker Cayetanb wifl deliver onthepassage of the
fr6"uf into law of the LO1g-CAA. He cited the current ,
budg6t before they go to break so that the Senate would
)'rrrou, maioriW" at the L8th Congress would be more
haviample time iigo through it " he added.
- :ii
supbortivd of the President's ProposedzD-z} GAB' Avisaio was appointed lastAug. 5 to take over from
fu"t, the Senate committee on-{inance chalred by Sen' former DBM Secre^tiry Benjamin Diokno. Also appointed
So""y e"gara officiaily slare tgdqr hilPublic hearings o,n to theDuterte Cabinetonthe same day wasDepartnent
the piopoJed 2020 GAB. Aweek after DgPtto"toJ tsuct- of Agriculture (DA) Secietary Williim Dqr-1v-h9 took
M*ug"*ent (DBM) 'acting' S-ecretary Wgndell
;;i;d onet?o* Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pifrol.
ivisado was alpointed, he submitted 4" ptposed.2020 Prior to liis Cabinet post, Avisado was serving as
CAB to the S#ate leaders headed by Senate president presidential assistant for special concerns at Malacanang
Vicente Sotto Itr and Angara's committee lastAu6 20' 'thut orr".tees the implerrrentation of the government's
This was a dav afterAvisado first submitted them to housing projects for survivors o-lthe Yolan-da onslaught'
House leaders h6aded by SpeakerAlan Peter Cayetanq H" pr"ifo.tily se*ed as City Hall admini-strator from
;J th" House committee oh apptopriations e"if+Uy 2004-20h0*hi1" President Diiterte was still Davao City
b*rr"o CiW Rep.Isidro Ungab. The House started since mayor. After which $visadowas appginte-d. as assistant
last week theiipuUlic hearings on the 2020 GAB' secietary in 2010 of former Vice President ]ejomar Binay
who wis then chairman of the Housing and Urban De-
mittee on aPProPriations, "I{e cannot at- velopment Coordinating Council (HUD{C).
Nograles knows very well ford another budget Sirce they were appoTnted in-"acting" capacity-onl,y,-
hofi' they schedule aP- impasse next Yeatrt' both Avisado and Dif need not be submitted yet to the.
provals 6f each DePart- Commission on Appointments (CA) for confirmation'
Nograles cited.
inent assigned to sPecific ft it is because evisldo and Ddr yere appointed while
sub-committees. t -o"gr"rs is in session. Therefory the spe6dy approval of
uPrt@s *1ga the 2"020 GAB is, of course, not hinged on the confirma-
--- of Avisado as new DBM Secretary.
tion
et f.*so r sharpens his "hide-and-seeK' skills inthe
' r.*u.y of the 202b GAB bill, it would test the mettle of
thu
;".iit g" DBM Secetary in shepherding its approval
at the L8th Congress.