Solons to respect pleqidgnlial power

to approve or veto F.75-B infra fund srl{cE ro

fm, :iii'i:j;pinl|9-so$Fio;:g*tr:i:Krl
I'

t-tl he House of ReDresentatives

1 I l'"iu resDect Dresidential dis-
I
I cretion in ttre approval or veto
of the enrolled 2019 General
Appropriations Bill (GAB) and will no
longer defend its position on the budget
measure from the Senate leadershlp.
Camarines SurRbp. Rolando Andaya
Jr., chairman of the House Committee
on Appropriations, stressed this )Z[
DIATIIIiA&wB
THE NATTON'$ rrArDrNG
iimTIil NEWSPAPEn

House rests case on 2019 ... <t
I improve ow economic situation and
Wednesday as he said it is now up to
President Duterte if he will uphold
Senate President Vicente Sotto ItrI's
recommendation for the veto of F?s
billion in infrastructure fund that the
Lower House iteniized.
"Once enacted into law, I assure
the taxpaying public that the naiional
budget for 2019 v/ill pass not only the
test of constitutionality and legal-
. ity but also of transparency and ac-
counlability." Andaya said in a press
statement-
He stress;d that congressmen
"worked double time" to guarantee
Filipino taxpayers that their legisla-
tive district "will get a fair shard of
the budget."
"Wg took l.ime to examine the
budget in order to expunge programs
and projects not vetted by appropriate
govemment agencies andinstitution-
al mechanisms." he explained.
The enrollment of the budget bill
i
followed a long bickering between the
House add Senate leadership as the
latter acCused congTessmen of tinker-
ing with the F7s-billion infrastructure
budget after the bicameral comniittee
report on the measure was ratifred by
the Lo\ er Chamber.
House leaders, among them Ma-
jority Leader Fredenil Castro and
oppositionists Minority Leader Danilo
Suarez (UNA. Quezon) and Rep. Ed-
cel Lagman (LR Albay) , insisted that
there is nothing unconstitutional.in
the itemization of lump sum provi-
sions of tbe budget, adding that what
was done was part of ensuring trans-
parency in the budget process.
"We may have locked horns with
senators on contentious issues, but
both sides'chose to work on our
commonalities rather than waste
ptecious time over disagreements,"
said Andaya.
"That is democracy at work. We
are confident that the product of
this democratic process will help
uplift the lives of ordinary Fllipinos,"
he added.
It was recalled that former Presi-
dent and now Speakercloria Macapa-
gal-Arroyo had affrxed her signature in
the proposed 2019 GA,rA, two weeks ago
but later agreed to recall it ftom the
Senate to give way to negotiations.
Castro assigned Reps. Andaya,
Lagman, and Ronaldo Zamora (PDP-
Laban, San Juan) to end the budget
impasse with a Senate counterpart.
Bicameral sources said the two
panels agreed to enrol the GAB that
contained the itemized provisions
made by the House but at the same
time, .allow Sotto to submit a letter ]
airing to Duterte his misgivings over
the measure and recommendation for
veto ofthe congressmen s provision.
A House soufce also confirmed U
1ffi"'*":il::J:#;:J:::1Ji +r.A nuNE NAN'I
ingSotto's action.

,)