President Duterte is prepared to veto any unlawful allocation in the proposed 2020 national budget once submitted to his office, a Palace official said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo assured the budget proposal will undergo a thorough scrutiny following reports of alleged last-minute insertions made by lawmakers.
“Provisions in the budget that run counter to the Constitution will be vetoed by the President, there is no change in that policy,” Panelo said.
The two houses of Congress ratified the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 last Wednesday, hoping it will be signed into law by the President before the end of the year. The bicameral conference committee had earlier reconciled the versions of the spending plan.
The budget document is expected to be transmitted to the Office of the President for action.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, however, revealed that around P83-billion in insertions were apparently made by the House of Representatives a before the bicameral committee signed the budget. Lacson said it was “revolting” that lawmakers “keep on dipping their dirty fingers” on the proposed national budget.
Panelo had earlier said scrutinizing the budget proposal is part of the “constitutional duty” of the President. The Palace has repeatedly appealed to Congress to ensure the timely passage of the budget proposal and prevent a repeat of the delays encountered in the 2019 outlay.
Meanwhile, the Senate has started the arduous task of listing down thousands of lump sum projects, also described as “pork barrel” projects, “treacherously’’ inserted by lawmakers at the last minute at the bicameral conference committee report.
The list will eventually be transmitted to Duterte who may or may not veto them.
“Of course, we cannot influence the President. But we can inform him, tulad ng ginawa namin noong nakaraang taon,’’ Lacson, an anti-pork barrel advocate, said.
Lacson said he, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, and Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, decided to submit the list of questionable lump sum appropriations to Duterte inserted in the proposed 2020 P4.1-trillion national budget.
Lacson added the insertion through the use of Universal Serial Bus by the House bicameral panel of P95-billion worth of pork barrel projects was made after the Senate and the House of Representatives had ratified the bicameral conference committee report for the 2020 national budget. The last minute insertion amounted to treachery, he stressed.
Lacson said lawmakers are reportedly known to pocket a minimum of 25 percent as commission for each of their pork barrel projects. (Genalyn Kabiling and Mario Casayuran)
http://tempo.com.ph/2019/12/12/duterte-to-veto-illegal-allocations-in-2020-budget/
Thursday, December 12, 2019
House leaders insist: No pork, no parked funds in 2020 budget
Leaders of the House of Representatives have assured the public that the proposed 2020 budget — which was recently ratified — has no pork insertions and parked funds.
Both Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and House Majority leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez admitted on Thursday that the budget they passed is not perfect, but insisted that it was approved with “full transparency”.
“We passed a budget with no pork, no parked funds, and no delays with full transparency. While there is no perfect budget, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have identified areas where funds have been underutilized for various reasons,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement.
“Thus both houses made adjustments so it can now be fully utilized for programs such as the Build, Build, Build and social welfare programs in furthering the goal improving the quality of life of Filipinos,” they added.
The comments from the two House officials came after Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed that there may be last-minute insertions in the 2020 budget, before the bicameral conference committee signed it.
He said that a quick review of the budget copies, which he received, showed that the proposed budget contains around P83 billion and P16 billion of lump sum funds and “vaguely described projects”.
Cayetano and Romualdez however insisted that the budget is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision for a “safe and comfortable life”. They also boasted that the early approval of the budget gives the executive branch and President Duterte enough time to review the ratified bill.
This is in stark contrast with the 2019 budget, which was approved way into the year as discussions about pork-like insertions have stalled its approval.
“Now more than ever is the best time to push for reforms to see this goal through… The early approval by the Committee provides the President ample time to review the Bill’s provisions and ensure that it is aligned with the priority programs of the administration,” they said.
“We now leave it up to the Departments, Agencies, and the rest of the Executive branch to fully implement the projects and programs with no corruption and with full transparency,” they added.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1201034/house-leadership-insists-no-pork-no-parked-funds-in-2020-budget
Both Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and House Majority leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez admitted on Thursday that the budget they passed is not perfect, but insisted that it was approved with “full transparency”.
“We passed a budget with no pork, no parked funds, and no delays with full transparency. While there is no perfect budget, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have identified areas where funds have been underutilized for various reasons,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement.
“Thus both houses made adjustments so it can now be fully utilized for programs such as the Build, Build, Build and social welfare programs in furthering the goal improving the quality of life of Filipinos,” they added.
The comments from the two House officials came after Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed that there may be last-minute insertions in the 2020 budget, before the bicameral conference committee signed it.
He said that a quick review of the budget copies, which he received, showed that the proposed budget contains around P83 billion and P16 billion of lump sum funds and “vaguely described projects”.
Cayetano and Romualdez however insisted that the budget is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision for a “safe and comfortable life”. They also boasted that the early approval of the budget gives the executive branch and President Duterte enough time to review the ratified bill.
This is in stark contrast with the 2019 budget, which was approved way into the year as discussions about pork-like insertions have stalled its approval.
“Now more than ever is the best time to push for reforms to see this goal through… The early approval by the Committee provides the President ample time to review the Bill’s provisions and ensure that it is aligned with the priority programs of the administration,” they said.
“We now leave it up to the Departments, Agencies, and the rest of the Executive branch to fully implement the projects and programs with no corruption and with full transparency,” they added.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1201034/house-leadership-insists-no-pork-no-parked-funds-in-2020-budget
Lipa, Kalookan, Lingayen-Dagupan prelates in the running to replace Tagle
At least three names are being mentioned in church circles to replace the outgoing archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle, who is set to occupy a top Vatican post.
Included on the list is a surprise front-runner, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera, the Bicolano cleric appointed by Pope Francis nearly three years ago to head the Archdiocese of Lipa in Batangas.
Also in the running are Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan and Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, two outspoken critics of the Duterte government’s bloody war on drugs.
There are many factors at play in the choice of the next occupant of the See of Manila, a position of influence in the Asian Church. Its profile was raised by one of its most famous modern prelates, Jaime Cardinal Sin, who was instrumental to the ouster of two Philippine presidents.
Cardinals from the ‘peripheries’
Pope Francis has long indicated a preference for pastors from the margins or “peripheries” of society – especially in the selection of new members of the College of Cardinals who will elect his successor. The next archbishop is a shoo-in for the red hat as the Archdiocese of Manila, the mother of all Filipino dioceses, is a cardinatial see along with Cebu, the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines.
Francis has appointed numerous cardinals from the margins, particularly in places where Christians are a minority and subject to persecution.
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, a major figure in interreligious dialogue in Mindanao, was among the first 19 cardinals created by Francis in 2014 or a year after he became pope.
Other examples of cardinals from the peripheries are Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali, Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun of Paksé, Laos, and Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, who was the pope’s legate to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress successfully hosted by Cebu in 2016.
Lipa connection
Tradition and precedent could also be significant factors. Candidates for archbishop of Manila have usually been heads of historically important metropolitan sees.
Gabriel Reyes was archbishop of Cebu when he was appointed to Manila in 1949. Cardinal Sin came from Jaro in Iloilo when he was moved to the capital in 1974. Sin’s successor, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, was plucked out by Pope John Paul II from Lipa to lead Manila in 2003.
Age is not historically a factor – Rosales took possession of Manila at the advanced age 71. Rufino Santos was one of the youngest to become archbishop at only 44 and was created the first Filipino cardinal at 51. Tagle, now 62, was 54 at the time of his appointment; he received the red hat at 55.
The above-mentioned factors work in favor of Garcera, who, church sources said, leads the pack of likely successors.
Garcera, 60, trained at Holy Rosary, the archdiocesan major seminary in Caceres, and became bishop of Daet in Camarines Norte in 2007 as the province struggled out of poverty.
The Lipa prelate could benefit from the strong backing of his predecessor, Cardinal Rosales, who continues to hold sway in Manila and Rome. Rosales chose to retire not in Manila but in Lipa, very close to Garcera.
During Rosales’ tenure in Manila, promotions went in the way of fellow “Josefinos” or alumni of the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary located in the Ateneo, and this trend now coincides with Pope Francis’ turn toward his old order for candidates for important leadership posts.
Francis of late has named fellow Jesuits or Jesuit-trained clerics to Vatican offices, and Tagle, named prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on Dec. 8, is a prime example. In November, Francis appointed the Spanish Jesuit Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, to replace the Australian cardinal George Pell. Earlier, in October, three Jesuits were elevated to the College of Cardinals.
Garcera has Jesuit training. In 1992, he obtained a master’s degree in religious studies from Ateneo de Manila, the Jesuit-run university. Garcera was one of only six Filipinos asked by Pope Francis to participate in the Synod of Bishops on the Family at the Vatican in October 2015, an indication of his high standing in Rome.
Suffragan bishops
One does not necessarily have to be an archbishop to become a candidate for Manila. A bishop possesses the fullness of the priestly ministry, but ranks lower than an archbishop. A bishop heads a diocese, while an archbishop serves as pastor of a metropolitan area and oversees the surrounding dioceses, called suffragans.
Aside from being apostolic administrator in Lipa, the late Rufino Cardinal Santos was bishop of the military ordinariate before coming to Manila.
Tagle himself had been suffragan – the bishop of Imus in Cavite – to Rosales when the latter was metropolitan of Manila.
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, formerly of San Fernando diocese in Pampanga, now heads the Diocese of Kalookan, a suffragan to Manila. A biblical expert who trained at Jerusalem’s famed Ecole Biblique et Archeologique, “Ambo” David has made a mark in the Church for his strident defense of human life amid the drug war – on the pulpit, the streets and against paid trolls on social media.
The appointment of either David or Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who had been the subject of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-Catholic tirades, would send a strong statement of support from the highest levels of the Vatican.
Sentimental favorite
In July, David and Villegas were accused of cyber-libel and inciting to sedition by an ex-convict who claimed he was used by opposition and church figures to produce a series of internet videos implicating the Dutertes in illegal drugs. Both clerics have strongly denied the charges, and have the backing for fellow bishops.
The 59-year-old Villegas, known as “Father Soc,” is the sentimental and perennial favorite, having been an aide to Cardinal Sin and a former president of the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
David, however, is the stronger contender.
Unlike Villegas who is a “Carlista,” or who went to San Carlos Seminary of the Archdiocese of Manila, David is a Josefino.
David, 60, also spent college at the Ateneo, and obtained his master’s in divinity at the Loyola School of Theology, which has produced many bishops. He has a licentiate and a doctorate from Louvain in Belgium, a center of modernist theology in Europe.
At the CBCP, he serves as vice president, next in line to the presidency when the incumbent, Romulo Valles, the archbishop of Duterte’s home city of Davao, ends his term in 2021.
Pope Francis still needs to name bishops to at least four vacant sees: the Diocese of Alaminos in Pangasinan and the apostolic vicariates of Jolo in Sulu, Taytay in Palawan and San Jose in Mindoro.
The nunciature is also vacant, as the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, has been named Vatican envoy to the United Nations in New York, replacing a Filipino Vatican diplomat, Msgr. Bernardito Auza, now the pope’s representative in Madrid.
https://pressone.ph/lipa-kalookan-lingayen-dagupan-prelates-in-the-running-to-replace-tagle/
Included on the list is a surprise front-runner, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera, the Bicolano cleric appointed by Pope Francis nearly three years ago to head the Archdiocese of Lipa in Batangas.
Also in the running are Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan and Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, two outspoken critics of the Duterte government’s bloody war on drugs.
There are many factors at play in the choice of the next occupant of the See of Manila, a position of influence in the Asian Church. Its profile was raised by one of its most famous modern prelates, Jaime Cardinal Sin, who was instrumental to the ouster of two Philippine presidents.
Cardinals from the ‘peripheries’
Pope Francis has long indicated a preference for pastors from the margins or “peripheries” of society – especially in the selection of new members of the College of Cardinals who will elect his successor. The next archbishop is a shoo-in for the red hat as the Archdiocese of Manila, the mother of all Filipino dioceses, is a cardinatial see along with Cebu, the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines.
Francis has appointed numerous cardinals from the margins, particularly in places where Christians are a minority and subject to persecution.
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, a major figure in interreligious dialogue in Mindanao, was among the first 19 cardinals created by Francis in 2014 or a year after he became pope.
Other examples of cardinals from the peripheries are Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali, Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun of Paksé, Laos, and Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, who was the pope’s legate to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress successfully hosted by Cebu in 2016.
Lipa connection
Tradition and precedent could also be significant factors. Candidates for archbishop of Manila have usually been heads of historically important metropolitan sees.
Gabriel Reyes was archbishop of Cebu when he was appointed to Manila in 1949. Cardinal Sin came from Jaro in Iloilo when he was moved to the capital in 1974. Sin’s successor, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, was plucked out by Pope John Paul II from Lipa to lead Manila in 2003.
Age is not historically a factor – Rosales took possession of Manila at the advanced age 71. Rufino Santos was one of the youngest to become archbishop at only 44 and was created the first Filipino cardinal at 51. Tagle, now 62, was 54 at the time of his appointment; he received the red hat at 55.
The above-mentioned factors work in favor of Garcera, who, church sources said, leads the pack of likely successors.
Garcera, 60, trained at Holy Rosary, the archdiocesan major seminary in Caceres, and became bishop of Daet in Camarines Norte in 2007 as the province struggled out of poverty.
The Lipa prelate could benefit from the strong backing of his predecessor, Cardinal Rosales, who continues to hold sway in Manila and Rome. Rosales chose to retire not in Manila but in Lipa, very close to Garcera.
During Rosales’ tenure in Manila, promotions went in the way of fellow “Josefinos” or alumni of the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary located in the Ateneo, and this trend now coincides with Pope Francis’ turn toward his old order for candidates for important leadership posts.
Francis of late has named fellow Jesuits or Jesuit-trained clerics to Vatican offices, and Tagle, named prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on Dec. 8, is a prime example. In November, Francis appointed the Spanish Jesuit Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, to replace the Australian cardinal George Pell. Earlier, in October, three Jesuits were elevated to the College of Cardinals.
Garcera has Jesuit training. In 1992, he obtained a master’s degree in religious studies from Ateneo de Manila, the Jesuit-run university. Garcera was one of only six Filipinos asked by Pope Francis to participate in the Synod of Bishops on the Family at the Vatican in October 2015, an indication of his high standing in Rome.
Suffragan bishops
One does not necessarily have to be an archbishop to become a candidate for Manila. A bishop possesses the fullness of the priestly ministry, but ranks lower than an archbishop. A bishop heads a diocese, while an archbishop serves as pastor of a metropolitan area and oversees the surrounding dioceses, called suffragans.
Aside from being apostolic administrator in Lipa, the late Rufino Cardinal Santos was bishop of the military ordinariate before coming to Manila.
Tagle himself had been suffragan – the bishop of Imus in Cavite – to Rosales when the latter was metropolitan of Manila.
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, formerly of San Fernando diocese in Pampanga, now heads the Diocese of Kalookan, a suffragan to Manila. A biblical expert who trained at Jerusalem’s famed Ecole Biblique et Archeologique, “Ambo” David has made a mark in the Church for his strident defense of human life amid the drug war – on the pulpit, the streets and against paid trolls on social media.
The appointment of either David or Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who had been the subject of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-Catholic tirades, would send a strong statement of support from the highest levels of the Vatican.
Sentimental favorite
In July, David and Villegas were accused of cyber-libel and inciting to sedition by an ex-convict who claimed he was used by opposition and church figures to produce a series of internet videos implicating the Dutertes in illegal drugs. Both clerics have strongly denied the charges, and have the backing for fellow bishops.
The 59-year-old Villegas, known as “Father Soc,” is the sentimental and perennial favorite, having been an aide to Cardinal Sin and a former president of the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
David, however, is the stronger contender.
Unlike Villegas who is a “Carlista,” or who went to San Carlos Seminary of the Archdiocese of Manila, David is a Josefino.
David, 60, also spent college at the Ateneo, and obtained his master’s in divinity at the Loyola School of Theology, which has produced many bishops. He has a licentiate and a doctorate from Louvain in Belgium, a center of modernist theology in Europe.
At the CBCP, he serves as vice president, next in line to the presidency when the incumbent, Romulo Valles, the archbishop of Duterte’s home city of Davao, ends his term in 2021.
Pope Francis still needs to name bishops to at least four vacant sees: the Diocese of Alaminos in Pangasinan and the apostolic vicariates of Jolo in Sulu, Taytay in Palawan and San Jose in Mindoro.
The nunciature is also vacant, as the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, has been named Vatican envoy to the United Nations in New York, replacing a Filipino Vatican diplomat, Msgr. Bernardito Auza, now the pope’s representative in Madrid.
https://pressone.ph/lipa-kalookan-lingayen-dagupan-prelates-in-the-running-to-replace-tagle/
Thousands of Philippines jobs hinge on ABS-CBN renewal
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened not to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN, which will affect 10,000 to 11,000 jobs.
Thousands of Filipinos might lose their jobs after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened not to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN, which is Philippines’ largest television network.
Duterte has been at loggerheads against the media giants after they failed to air his political advertisements during the 2016 presidential campaign despite paying them for it.
“ABS-CBN has been a protector of your vested interest,” Duterte said.
“Your franchise will expire next year. If you are expecting it to be renewed, I’m sorry. You’re out.”
With the franchise by Republic Act 7966 set to expire in 2020, ABS-CBN would have to shut down its operations in radio and television if it doesn’t get renewed.
This will affect 10,000-11,000 jobs and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has urged the President to consider the impact of not renewing their franchise.
“Between 10,000 to 11,000 who depend on the Philippines’ largest television network and its subsidiaries/sister companies including ABS-CBN.com, dzMM, TFC, Star Music, to name a few, for their bread and butter, will immediately lose their jobs or will indirectly be dislocated once its franchise is denied,” they said.
“Do not allow one man’s vindictiveness to displace thousands of workers, including journalists and artists, and spell the end for freedom of the press and of expression.”
ABS-CBN currently employs 6,730 staff, 900 non-regular workers and more than 3,325 talents according to the latest report by the company at the end of 2018.
http://hrmasia.com/thousands-of-philippines-jobs-hinge-on-abs-cbn-renewal/
Thousands of Filipinos might lose their jobs after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened not to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN, which is Philippines’ largest television network.
Duterte has been at loggerheads against the media giants after they failed to air his political advertisements during the 2016 presidential campaign despite paying them for it.
“ABS-CBN has been a protector of your vested interest,” Duterte said.
“Your franchise will expire next year. If you are expecting it to be renewed, I’m sorry. You’re out.”
With the franchise by Republic Act 7966 set to expire in 2020, ABS-CBN would have to shut down its operations in radio and television if it doesn’t get renewed.
This will affect 10,000-11,000 jobs and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has urged the President to consider the impact of not renewing their franchise.
“Between 10,000 to 11,000 who depend on the Philippines’ largest television network and its subsidiaries/sister companies including ABS-CBN.com, dzMM, TFC, Star Music, to name a few, for their bread and butter, will immediately lose their jobs or will indirectly be dislocated once its franchise is denied,” they said.
“Do not allow one man’s vindictiveness to displace thousands of workers, including journalists and artists, and spell the end for freedom of the press and of expression.”
ABS-CBN currently employs 6,730 staff, 900 non-regular workers and more than 3,325 talents according to the latest report by the company at the end of 2018.
http://hrmasia.com/thousands-of-philippines-jobs-hinge-on-abs-cbn-renewal/