(Eagle News)—Speaker Gloria Arroyo may be charged for signing the P3.757-trillion budget bill that contains provisions that were not approved by the bicameral conference committee nor ratified by both houses of Congress, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Wednesday, March 13.
Lacson was referring to the bill which the House of Representatives printed and transmitted to the Senate but which, according to him, was only a “manipulated” version of the budget bill that has already been approved.
“Since Speaker Arroyo already signed the House version of the enrolled bill, she’s already prone to being charged for falsification because she’s already certified on something that did not take place. Kasi ang sine-certify mo ito yung in-approved namin sa plenaryo. Ano ba ‘yung niratify nila sa House, pareho ng niratify naming bicam report sa Senate,” Lacson said.
According to Lacson, “any taxpayer can already go to the Ombudsman or DOJ to file a criminal complaint against her for falsification.”
Lacson has been vocal about what he said were the House’s realignments in the budget even after another version had already been ratified by the House and the Senate, saying it was unconstitutional.
He and Senate President Tito Sotto have said the Senate would not adopt the House-“manipulated” version.
House majority leader Rolando Andaya Jr. has said, however, that they only meant to “itemize” the proposed budget to make it easier to scrutinize.
On Tuesday, March 12, Senate and House leaders met with President Rodrigo Duterte in an attempt to break the impasse so a proposed national budget would finally be transmitted for the chief executive’s signature.
Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said, however, that no consensus was reached during the meeting.
Duterte has already warned of the dangers working on a reenacted national budget posed.
The government has so far been operating on a reenacted budget in the absence of the national budget law for 2019.