Proposed P1.541 trillion budget not ratified

CEBU, Philippines - The final version of the proposed P1.541-trillion 2010 national budget was not “validly ratified” by the Senate and the House of Representatives, Sen. Francis Escudero said yesterday.

“The report of the conference committee on the budget was not valid and its ratification was therefore not also valid,” Escudero said when The STAR informed him that only Sen. Edgardo Angara signed the document for the Senate.

Angara, finance committee chairman, headed the nine-member Senate contingent in the bicameral conference committee.

His counterpart, Quirino Rep. Junie Cua, led the 17 House members.

The STAR sought Escudero’s comment on the report since it earlier learned that he refused to sign it.

“When they named the conferees in plenary session, I was not among them,” he said.

“So when they asked me to sign the report last Friday night, I refused because I was not part of the committee. They wanted my signature since probably lacked signatures.”

Escudero said Angara’s team should not have included him in the report as among the Senate conferees.

“The document containing the final version of the 2010 budget should have been signed by majority of Senate and House conferees to be valid and should have been approved by a majority vote of both chambers,” he said

A copy of the report obtained by The STAR from House sources shows that only Angara signed it.

The document does not reflect the signature of any of the eight other members, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and Francis Pangilinan.

Pimentel’s name was even misspelled as “Quilino.” Cua and 11 other House members signed the report.

At the time Angara’s staff and Zubiri were looking for Escudero, he and Estrada were attending the wedding of a member of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon’s staff as godfathers.

Since Escudero refused to sign the Angara-Cua report, the Senate had to declare an hour-long break in its session that night to await Estrada so he could affix his signature on the document.

However, the copy of the report in The STAR’s possession does not show Estrada’s signature.

The final version of the budget shows a P64-billion reduction in debt payments made by the Angara-Cua committee.

This has prompted former economic planning secretary Ralph Recto to warn lawmakers and President Arroyo that next year’s budget deficit could hit a record level of P400 billion.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson said the bulk of the debt cut went to the lawmakers’ pork barrel.

Fewer than 30 members attended last Friday’s House session. They voted to approve the Angara-Cua report even without seeing it. — Philippine Star News Service (FREEMAN NEWS)