MAt{rtA" pHtuPptNEs I THURSDAY 2r MARCH 20r 9
Budset ddtvered
House ends sta lemat
By Hanancol Bordoy
Withdrawal of the bill afld Marlo J. Mallarl
was made for the sake
of the country and the The legislative deadlock on the
2019 budget has becn elfbctively
people and as a sign r€solved yesterday after leaders
'of goodwill
of the llouse of Repr.€s€ltatives
relented yesterday and agreed
ro withdraw lhe source of . a sign of goodwi m start the
conllicl which is lhe General dialdgue with lhe Senale."
Appropriations BiU (GAB) that it The ltouse dispatched the
'submitted to the Senatg,
SpeakercloriaMacapagal-Arroyo to th€ Senat€ t0 personally
said the withdrawal 0f the bill , retrieve tho budget books from
''was madc lor Lhe sake oI Lhe lhe House.
country.and the p€0ple and. as "This is in line with the
\ ++e4o ule Neti.s
tl
Ir)
Spsqkorls instructlgn to allow
'o last-ditch effort 'to break
the budgot impasse," House
Appropriutions Committee
chairman li,olando Andaya Jr,
said,
Arroyo also dispatched a
three-man Hous€ team made
up of Andaya, San Juan Bep.
lionnio Zamora and Albay Rep,
Edcol Lagman t,o meet with
their Sonato counterpads to
address "cont€ntious issues"
in the 2019 GAB.
fum ro Pace 2l
Contingents from the Senate and the House can
agree to a common venue for a formal discussion
'We want to make it clear,
though. We are not withdrawing
or backtracking from our
earlier position. We maintain
that the House did noihing
unconstitutional, illegal or
irregular when we approved
and ratified the 2019 GAB in
plenary session,' he said,
Senate, Eouse meet ane*
-Contingents from the
Senate and the House can
agree to a common venue for a
fornal discussion on the issues
and not debate on the merits
of their position through the
media,' Andaya added.
The Eonse did nothing
unconstitutionsl, illegal or
inegular.
Lagman, meanwhile, said
that he will not support any
House action or measure that
will violate the Constitution
emphasizing that the House
version was far from being
unconstitutional.
'As former chairman of the
committee on appropriations,
I know that traditionally and
invariabiy what the bicameral
colference committee approves
are the respective expenditure
ceilings of the departments
and agencies but the Senate
and the House are authorized
separately to compiete tlle
details. within the ceiiings,' the
opposition Iawmaker said.
Moreover, ority Floor
Maj
Leader Fre denil Casiro
expressed his suppoit to
Lagman's positi
"l have high
Con8. Edcel
\Yill convince
the position
Representatives is standing on
high constituiional and legal
grounds," he said.
We are giving ourselves frve
days to complete thie task.
The Senate has refused to
sign the budget and submit it
io the President for signing
since ii accused the House of
doing unconstitutional acts
through the insertions in
bi . sign the budget and that ii
Senate forms own te&m
Senate President Vicente
Sotto welcomed the House.
reirieval of the transmitted
budget measure -a m ove
that would finally break the
dragging impasse.
"I welcome the retrieval,
I could have sent it back for
being unfaithlul to whai was
approved by the bi-cam and
ratified in plenary but I did
not as prudence dicta
said Soito.
"0ur Congress is bicam
It's very elementary,"
added.
With ihe lat
developmeni, Sotto
that he would task
linance committ
chairman Loren
o
rieA\r,t\u
(e)
sstalemate
and Sen. Panfiio Lacson to sign it to put the issue to
meet again with House leaders. ' rest," he quoted Legarda as
saying.
Legard& 'double t&lk' Suarez said Legarda also
Suarez had alleged majority promised that she would talk to
ot senators, led by Legarda, her colleagues, but only to be
wanted the budget immediately told later by the senator that
delivered to Mr. Dlrterte citing "Sotto and Lacson are taking a
a so-called'silent majority' hard-line stance."
in the Senate who "disagreed
with the position of Sotto and
Lacson.
"I talked to Senator Loren
two days ago, as a matter
of fact I'm going to see
her (today). She assured
the me she really wanted to
is also the sentiment
of most members of
the Senate," Suarez
said.
'lf it is only
possible,
w.9g1d
f,
already._,
gS,"
Net4'i