Funds for Congress oversight panels not in 2014 budget

MANILA, Philippines - Congressional oversight committees and the funds allotted to them are no longer listed in detail in the 2014 national budget.

It is not clear why the current budget is no longer as transparent as before, at least as far as oversight committees are concerned.

The lack of transparency could be traced to President Aquino’s 2014 budget proposal, in which the panels and their funding were not listed.

The House of Representatives and the Senate, in their version of this year’s spending program, did not restore the listing and adopted the President’s proposal, though they increased their combined budget by about P721 million.

The 2014 national budget shows that the 24 senators, their personnel and their standing and oversight committees are allocated P3.344 billion for this year.

That amount is broken down into two expense items: general administration and support, for which there is P1.606 billion, and operations/legislative services, for which P1.738 is budgeted.

Those items are further broken down into personnel services/salaries, P1.726 billion; maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), P1.571 billion; and capital outlay, P47.4 million.

The House of Representatives, on the other hand, has P6.625 billion for this year: P2.659 billion for general administration and support and P3.966 billion for operations/legislative services.

Funding for the 289-member House is further broken down into personnel services/salaries, P3.088 billion; MOOE, P3.386 billion; and capital outlay, P150 million.

In the 2013 budget, joint Senate-House oversight committees were listed, together with their appropriations for salaries, MOOE and capital or equipment outlay. Most did not have money for personnel and equipment, just for MOOE, where additional allowances for committee chairmen and members were sourced.

The oversight panels are in addition to standing committees, which have their own budgets, including allowances for chairmen and members. Last year, the Senate had 35 joint oversight and select committees, for which P545.8 million out of the chamber’s P3.294-billion outlay was budgeted.

It was Congress that created joint oversight committees in various laws that it felt needed its oversight participation in their implementation.

Select committees, on the other hand, are created either by the House or the Senate.

The Senate oversight committees in 2013 were those on agricultural and fisheries modernization, labor and employment, power, e-commerce, Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), solid waste management, Clean Air Act, comprehensive tax reform, Absentee Voting Act, anti-money laundering, dangerous drugs, Clean Water Act, Biofuels Act, official development assistance (ODA), science and technology, civil aviation, affordable medicine, cooperatives, automated election system, climate change, Human Security Act, agrarian reform, public expenditures, Overseas Workers Act, disaster risk reduction and management, tourism, Special Purpose Vehicle Act, and bases conversion.

Additionally, the Senate had select committees on building construction study and preparatory activities, economic affairs, intelligence fund, government procurement, local government code, suffrage, and 5th Global Conference of Global Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GLOPAC).

The Senate had allotted P15 million for the conference, which was led by then senator Edgardo Angara.

The building construction study committee had a budget of P30 million, all for MOOE. It was not clear what the result of the study was.

There had been proposals that the Senate should build its own building in Quezon City, near the Batasan complex, which houses congressmen. The Senate had been trying to join the House under one roof, or at least in a location that is near the House, ever since the time of former Senate president Jovito Salonga shortly after martial law.

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, who was Senate president in the previous Congress, had complained about his not being able to satisfy the demand of his colleagues for oversight committee chairmanship.

While the Senate had 35 oversight and select committees, the House had 29 joint oversight committees. It had no select committee.

The House oversight panels were those on Asian economic integration, dangerous drugs, anti-money laundering, power, VFA, ODA, tax reform, Clean Air Act, Anti-Dumping Act, optical media, Biofuels Act, overseas absentee voting, agricultural and fisheries modernization, civil aviation, solid management, clean water, safeguard measures, affordable medicine, small and medium enterprises, automated election system, Human Security Act, credit information system, physical examination of imported articles, agrarian reform, disaster risk reduction and management, overseas workers’ affairs, cooperatives, tourism, and public expenditures.

Of the P545.8 million budgeted for Senate oversight committees last year, P111.9 million was for salaries, P5.3 million for equipment and P428.5 million for MOOE.

Of the P301.6-million funding for House oversight panels, P7.3 million was for salaries and P294.3 million was for MOOE.

This year, leaders of the two chambers and their respective committees on accounts will presumably determine the budget of each committee.