ACTIVATE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET – PIMENTEL
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the
Senate and the House of Representatives to now create and activate a joint
congressional oversight committee that will monitor and check the
utilization of the P1.41 trillion national budget and fund releases made by
the Malacañang.
Pimentel said the formation of the oversight committee gains urgency in view
of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s veto of a number of provisions in the
2009 General Appropriations Act (GAA) which were inserted by Congress to
safeguard against misuse or illegal diversion of funds.
Among the portions of the GAA vetoed by the President were the provision
that would require the President to submit to Congress a breakdown of the
releases of lump sum appropriations and their recipients and the provision
requiring the concurrence of and consultations with lawmakers in the
implementation of school buildings and other public infrastructure projects.
Also vetoed by the President was the P50 billion cut from the debt service
allocation and its realignment to productive expenditures, including a Pl0
billion economic stimulus fund.
“These provisions were incorporated by Congress into the budget law to
enhance transparency in the disbursement of taxpayers’ money. These were
also intended to limit the discretion of the President in the utilization of
funds, specially lump sum appropriations, which has always been prone to
abuse,” Pimentel said.
“Simply stated, these provisions were meant to curb wasteful spending and
rampant graft and corruption and strengthen the system of checks and balance
between the executive and legislative branches. The safeguards were
necessary and the intention was good, but why did Mrs. Arroyo veto them? By
doing so, this only betrays that her repeated promise to clean up the
government rings hollow.”
Pimentel said that Congress can still remedy the situation by overriding the
presidential veto through a two-thirds vote of all the members of the Senate
and the House. Failing to do so, he warned, would be tantamount to
tolerating the constitutional power of Congress over the purse to be
trampled upon by the Chief Executive. He said this will also have the effect
of a huge portion of the national budget being reduced to, and treated as,
presidential pork barrel.
However, he said it would be wishful thinking to expect the
administration-dominated House of Representatives to go along with a move to
overturn the veto.
Given this circumstance, Pimentel said the next option left to Congress is
to create the congressional oversight committee on the budget based on the
consensus reached by Senate and House leaders when they were deliberating on
the 2009 national budget last year.
As envisioned, the oversight committee will be composed of senators and
congressmen designated by the leadership of both chambers. It will be
co-chaired by the chairman of the Senate finance committee and the chairman
of the House appropriations committee.
The senator from Mindanao also warned that the presidential veto on the
transparency and anti-corruption provisions has only fueled fears that funds
at the disposal and discretion of the President will be siphoned off to the
campaign of administration candidates in the 2010 elections like what
happened in previous years.
He said it is not far-fetched that fraudulent transfer of funds similar to
the P728 million fertilizer fund scam prior to the 2004 elections would be
repeated in the coming poll campaign.
Actually, Pimentel said that this anomaly has started to happen as shown by
the expensive newspaper ads put up by prospective presidential and
senatorial candidates from the Cabinet trumpeting their achievements on the
occasion of the President’s 62nd birthday celebration on April 5.
Date: April 15, 2009
Ref: Omeng Maglangit / (02) 5526733 |
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