Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno says neither he nor the Palace is going to blink on the 2019 National Budget cash-based appropriations system they want implemented next year, standing his and the Palace ground. He stressed the executive branch will not give in to the House of Representatives that wants an accounts-based budget of P3.76 trillion.

If the House refuses to budge, then Diokno and the Palace are ready for a reenacted budget, which favors the executive and not the members of Congress, who may no longer have the funds for their districts’ projects, as these have already been allocated for this year.

What is strange about this move on the part of the House is that its version of the budget has already been approved and reportedly sent to the Senate, for its counterpart measure, after which the bicameral Congress takes over.

It has to be asked: Why is there suddenly the change of mind on the part of the House, given that its members had already sent its bill to the Senate while awaiting its version?

Both Diokno and the presidential spokesman, Harry Roque, have pointed to the change in leadership for the surprising change of mind.

It is to be recalled that on the day President Duterte was constitutionally mandated to deliver the State of the Nation Address, there went the majority members of the House of Representatives staging a coup against their then Speaker, Pantaleon Alvarez, and replaced him with the now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

It is surprising to the Palace and its finance and economic managers that the House, which has always been considered as the dependable ally of the Palace tenant throughout many decades, on passing legislative measures the executive wants done.

This time, however, the House appears to have turned its back on the Palace, at least on this cash based appropriations system—which may have something to do with their pork barrel under another name.

It is being speculated that this accounts based budget was what made them stage a coup against Alvarez and replaced him through a House coup with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who may have offered the cash based appropriations budget to the House majority.

After all, why should these congressmen who had already voted to pass the 2019 proposed budget that is the cash appropriations based budget now suddenly want to retrieve the House version already with the Senate to revise it?

And why can’t a new Speaker who had the majority voting for her seem to handle the members who are her allies?

Alvarez may have been brash and arrogant at times, but he always succeeded in delivering that which the President and the Palace wanted by way of legislative measures. It was under his leadership that the budget version of the House, which carried cash based appropriations was passed earlier. Yet now, they suddenly want to retrieve that which they had already approved?

It has even been reported that Arroyo and her deputy speakers sought a meeting with the President to break the impasse on this matter.

This move smacks of a very weak House leadership that has to run to the President and get him to ignore the stand taken by him and his economic managers for the House to have its way.

Earlier, Diokno had stated he had met with Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the House appropriations committee chair, and Sen. Loren Legarda, the Senate finance committee chief, and that the two stressed to him that “they will return to us the proposed budget, after which, both houses will be increasing the budget.”

Diokno stood firm, stressing that the executive will not blink on its stand, as he said this proposed budget is non-negotiable and that if the House refuses to abide by the Palace proposed budget, the executive is ready for a reenacted budget. On an election year, that means congressmen will have no project for their districts that can be funded.

The House suspended hearings on the proposed budget for 2019 last week to give the Diokno’s deparment time to make “necessary changes.”

The necessary changes they seek won’t come, as Diokno insisted on the executive stand, saying: “We’re not talking of concessions,” adding that this was non-negotiable.

And if the House will refuse to budge on its stand, then Plan B will be the ready replacement with the reenacted budget.

He stressed that, “The House proposal is that we increase the deficit, which, of course, is not acceptable to us.” Diokno added that a bigger budget deficit may be unmanageable and posed a fiscal risk.

“So they are in a quandary because they want to have a higher budget — we don’t want a higher budget,” he was quoted as saying.

It’s time for the House to blink, because as Diokno says, the Palace won’t blink unless Duterte takes that risk of increasing the deficit which is already pretty unmanageable.