Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
Tiangco previously sounded the alarm on how only a few members of Congress were able to join deliberations on amendments in the House version of the national budget
MANILA, Philippines – New House appropriations chairperson Mikaela Suansing promised on Monday, August 4, to do away with the formation of a small committee, which in past budget seasons took the lead in handling amendments to the annual spending bill, after it had passed the House of Representatives.
The development came after Navotas City Representative Toby Tiangco, who declined to support the speakership of Martin Romualdez and decided to become an independent member of the House, red-flagged the lack of transparency in that phase of the budget process.
During a House-sanctioned press conference on Monday, August 4, Suansing said that instead of a small committee, a sub-committee on budget amendments review within her committee will be formed to deliberate on changes proposed by government agencies and congressional colleagues.
She said the sub-committee will be composed of the senior vice chairperson of the appropriations committee, and members nominated by each political party and by the minority.
In past budget seasons, the House would orally discuss individual amendments in the plenary, then pass the budget on final reading on the last day before the break. It would then elect members of a small committee to integrate the amendments on the General Appropriations Bill passed by the House.
Details of all the final amendments were not always immediately available to the public.
In her list of reforms, Suansing said the sub-committee will “continually receive proposed amendments” throughout September to October, when deliberations take place at the committee level, and then proceed to the plenary.
“The deliberations will be open to the public. Our countrymen can see what amendments are being proposed, what the deliberations are, and most of all, what will be approved and included in our budget,” Suansing said.
Last week, Tiangco said small committees in the past did not have minutes of their meetings.
“Why is there a small committee with only a few people in it? Why is it not transparent, why are the amendments not proposed by each member and then accepted in the plenary?” Tiangco asked.
Suansing also doubled down on Romualdez’s promise to open the bicameral conference committee proceedings to the general public, and allow civil society organizations to observe all stages of the budget process.
The changes, described in a House press release as “sweeping reforms in the national budget process,” came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to reject a spending bill that is not aligned with the executive’s programs, an apparent reference to budget insertions by the legislative branch.
He also promised an investigation into flood control projects plagued with corruption. – Rappler.com
