The approval of House Bill No. 3101, or the General Appropriations Act of 2011, was done through viva voce or voice voting at about 3:03 a.m. yesterday after it was delayed for more than three hours as Mindanao lawmakers refused to end interpellations on the budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) after Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita “Ging“ Deles for allegedly insulting a Muslim congresswoman (See related story).
The national budget was approved only after the House of Representatives agreed to adopt a resolution from Mindanao lawmakers demand ing the resignation of Deles.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
reminded his colleagues that the approval of the budget on second reading marks the start of the process where real amendments to the outlay will come from the House Committee on Appropriations.
“During all the nine years that I have worked as a member of this Congress from 1992 to 2001, this is the first time that a greater majority (or a) big quorum was present, while the budget deliberation was taking place,” Belmonte said.
“Thank you to all of you. Some of the media observed that virtually every session day, (the House) has 200 people present. I am amazed that we have debates here among friends,” he added before joining a photo session following the passage of the budget measure.
Amendments possible Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, vowed to study proposed amendments when the House goes on recess, the period when real alignments or changes in the budget happen.
“As practiced, (the budget stays) as is before second reading. The real amendments, the pen-pushing happens during the break in the committee, the amendments will be actualized come third reading,”Abaya said, admitting that he has yet to read the recommended amendments.
Abaya will join House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, House Committee on Appropriations vice chairman Rolando Andaya, and Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong in discussing the amendments in the budget during the break.
The proposed budget for 2011 is 6.8 percent higher or about P104 billion bigger than the allocation this year with huge chunks of funds proposed to pay interest payments of government debts amounting to P370 billion.
Another bulk in the budget will fund the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of senators, who will each receive P200 million, and congressmen, who will each get P70 million on top of P50 million worth of infrastructure projects from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for every district.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) got the biggest increase in the proposed budget for 2011 budget with an allocation of P34.3 billion that includes the P21 billion for CCT, the centerpiece program of the Aquino administration and the most debated item in the deliberations.
Zero budget for electrification The opposition emphasized that the village electrification project of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the palay procurement program of the National Food Authority (NFA) both got zero budget.
