SENATE President Vicente Sotto 3rd and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday vowed to end the budget deadlock that has pitted the two houses of Congress against each other.
Sotto said the House only needed to submit the measure as approved in February by the bicameral conference committee, which he would then submit to President Rodrigo Duterte for signature next week.
“Leave it as it is, what we ratified and what we agreed upon, [it should] remain in the budget for Public Works and Highways, which is already itemized originally in that state…if this happens, there’s no more problem with the rest of the budget,” the Senate chief said.
Senators claim the House tinkered with the approved budget and moved around some P95 billion in public works funds.
Arroyo said Congress would “end the impasse as soon as possible,” after she instructed a three-man team composed of Representatives Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur, Edcel Lagman of Albay and Ronaldo Zamora of San Juan City to negotiate with the Senate.
The Senate panel consists of Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Loren Legarda and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan.
Arroyo denied anew her supposed hand in altering the already ratified 2019 national budget.
“We’ll end the impasse as soon as possible. That’s my instruction. I did not micromanage the putting together of the budget. I don’t want to micromanage also their negotiations because the ones who did the budget know what they did and know what their flexibilities are,” Arroyo said.
She initially denied that the House had withdrawn its version of the budget despite confirmation by Zamora on Monday.
But on Wednesday, the House “physically retrieved” its version of the budget it sent to the Senate last March 11 because the refusal of Sotto 3rd to sign the “pork-filled” measure.
https://www.manilatimes.net/sotto-arroyo-vow-to-end-budget-deadlock-soon/529764/
