House leader wants passed 2014 budget bill recalled

MANILA, Philippines - House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora wants the lower chamber to recall the budget bill it passed last month following the Supreme Court decision declaring the pork barrel system unconstitutional.

Zamora said the budget bill should be reviewed and all provisions that are against the SC ruling should be deleted.

"[T]he SC made it clear [that] many of the things that are included in the General Appropriations bill that we sent to the Senate have been declared unconstitutional, and we should take a closer look at the individual provisions, both the special provisions and the general provisions of that appropriations bill," Zamora said in a press conference on Wednesday.

"We should be very careful on this particular bill if a good number of its provision have been declared unconstitutional… then, we should take a second look," he added.

The high court held that present and previous pork barrel funds violated the Constitutional principle of separation of powers of the executive and legislative branches as it “allowed legislators to wield, in varying gradations, non-oversight, post-enactment authority in vital areas of budget executions.”

Among other prohibitions, the high court decision declared as illegal are the provisions allowing personal, lump sum allocations to lawmakers from which they draw funds for specific projects that they themselves have determined.

"'Di ba bawal na ngayon to participate in the implementation… bawal na ngayon ung mag-identify, bawal na ngayon ang insertions," Zamora said. "Napakaraming bawal and I think we should be given a chance to review that entire appropriations bill that we passed."

Last month, the House of Representatives passed the 2014 budget on final reading with the P25.4-billion pork barrel of lawmakers and of the Office of the Vice President realigned to other government offices.