SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – Bayan Muna on Tuesday, October 28, retracted its allegations that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) inserted up to P423 billion in the budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) after House appropriations committee chair Isidro Ungab disproved their claims.
Ungab told reporters the total amount of errata or “amendments” for the proposed P2.606 trillion budget is only at P4.7 billion.
The supposed P423 billion “budget insertions” claimed by Bayan Muna has “absolutely” no basis, Ungab said. The only amendment made for the DILG is to itemize funding for the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Program, which Congress required. DILG’s budget in the original Malacañang proposal is P104.571 billion.
Bayan Muna later on admitted they made a mistake. The amount turned out to be for the P33 billion allocation for local government units or ALGU lumped together with the the P389 billion Internal Revenue Allotment.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II chided Representative Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna for the error.
“Kilala ko si (I know) Congressman Neri Colmenares. While he is entitled to his own opinion, he is not entitled to his own facts. Hindi totoo ‘yan (That’s not true.),” Roxas told reporters at a separate event Monday.
Colmenares, for his part, questioned why allocations for the ALGU and the IRA were lumped together in the budget when they belonged to different budget classifications.
Errata details
DBM submitted the 269-page errata to the House appropriations committee after the budget was passed on 2nd reading but withdrew it after party-list lawmakers raised concerns that they were “midnight insertions.”
The errata was later on resubmitted to the small committee that was created to deliberate amendments to the budget bill.
About 80% of the errata covers typographical errors, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda earlier said.
Ungab said the small committee accepted the following proposed changes from DBM:
- P3.28 billion for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
- P998.8 million for the Bureau of Customs
- P296.9 million for the Department of Tourism
- P93.7 million for the Department of Trade and Industries
- P34 million for the Commission on Human Rights
- P3 million for the Commission on Elections
- P53.5 million for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources P5 Million for Partido State University
- P1.79 Million for the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Program
Other proposed changes to the budget, such as the additional P8 billion contigency fund for the proposed Bangsamoro political entity, was not accepted since the Bangsamoro Basic Law has not been passed.
“We made sure that the amendments we approved were within the budget submitted and were actually tackled not only during committee but also during plenary as well,” Ungab said.
Bayan Muna representatives have threatened to take the proposed 2015 budget to the Supreme Court should House members refuse to re-tackle the proposed amendments.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr told reporters the House is set to approve the proposed 2015 budget for 3rd and final reading on Wednesday, October 29.
Here is a summary of the amendments submitted and approved by the small committee:
– Rappler.com
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