(Eagle News)—House appropriations chair Rolando Andaya Jr. on Wednesday, March 27, said the national budget for 2019, “once” signed into law, will “pass not only the test of constitutionality and legality but also of transparency and accountability.”
Andaya made the statement a day after Senate President Tito Sotto signed the budget bill enrolled by the House but “with reservations,” noting what senators have said were the “unconstitutional alignments” made by the House in the version already approved by both chambers of Congress.
Sotto said in a press conference on Tuesday, March 26, that President Rodrigo Duterte, whose signature is required for the proposed national budget to become law, may opt to veto these “alignments,” which included P75 billion worth of programs and projects under the Local Infrastructure Program of the Department of Public Works and Highways, instead.
Andaya had said these were mere “itemizations” that would make the budget bill easier to scrutinize.
“We may have locked horns with senators on contentious issues, but both sides chose to work on our commonalities rather than waste precious time over disagreements. That is democracy at work,” Andaya said.
He said they were “confident that the product of this democratic process will help improve our economic situation and uplift the lives of ordinary Filipinos.”
Congress transmitted the budget bill to Malacañang on Tuesday, March 26.
The Palace assured the public the President would scrutinize the bill and would sign it if it was in accordance with the Constitution.
