IT TOOK the House of Representatives' appropriations committee less than five minutes to approve the proposed budget of the Office of the President (OP) for 2018.
Represented by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, the OP was supposed to defend their proposed P6.031 billion budget, about 70 percent lower than this year's allocation.
Officials said the Philippine's hosting of the Asean meetings caused the higher budget this 2017.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman made the motion for the approval of the OP's budget, which was duly seconded by Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.
"I move consistent with tradition that we dispense with the presentation of the proposed 2018 budget of the Office of the President proper. And I further move that we approve at the committee level said proposed appropriation without prejudice to its consideration and interpellation during the plenary session," Fariñas said.
By tradition, lawmakers usually do not raise questions on the budget of OP, being the house of the highest officials in the land.
However, the tradition did not sit well with Kabataan Partylist Representative Sarah Elago,
"We prepared interpellation notes to scrutinize [OP's budget]…only to find out that no House member was allowed to ask questions," Elago said in a statement.
"We stand firm in the belief that Congress should exorcise items in the budget that are lump sum and discretionary in nature, as these funds are vulnerable to corruption and patronage politics," she added.
Elago said she will just reserve their queries for the plenary deliberation of the OP budget. (SunStar Philippines)