Blame Andaya

Today marks the resumption of session in the halls of Congress. Finally, our dear legislators can continue hearing the budget that would hopefully soon be approved and signed by the President. We have to be clear, and the Filipino people deserve to know, that the reason why thousands of contractual employees of the government stand not to be paid this month, and why all government workers failed to receive their well-deserved salary hike, is because of the hardheadedness of Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr.

“Embarrassing as it sounds, Andaya has not received a single word of support from President Duterte, even from the Senate.

We are lucky that, unlike in the US, the government does not shut down due to the non-passage of the budget. But what is not highlighted is that a number of Filipinos who work for the government have not been asked to come to the office when 2019 started by reason of lack of budget. The angry mob must march all the way to Camarines Sur to ask for the head of Andaya, who has been running out of options, becoming desperate as the days go by.

Let it be known that this national controversy started as a mere turf war in Camarines Sur, when upon assumption of his majority leader post last July 2018, Andaya questioned why his local rival, Rep. Luis “LRay” Villafuerte appeared to receive more funding than him. It is an important footnote that Andaya stands to face (and lose against) Villafuerte’s son, incumbent Gov. Migz Villafuerte, in the upcoming elections.

It appears that Andaya is ready to go down guns blazing now that everyone knows that he never had the support of Malacañang. The President has sided with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on all matters, from the supposed insertions made to the abolition of the Road Board. “Kumbaga common sense, mukhang kulang din siya (Andaya) sa common sense kung babasahin ko ‘tong sagot ni Secretary Diokno (It’s just common sense, it looks like he lacks common sense based on the reply of Secretary Diokno),” said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, clearly mocking the majority leader for not having common sense.

Andaya would be delusional should he claim that he has the support of the President. An empty threat to resign was even made by Andaya, something that he must think out clearly for being perhaps the best thing to do.

“I will be the first to vote that I be relieved as majority leader. To me, this post is forced labor.

When this was first offered to me, I begged off a hundred times,” remarked Andaya, although we can see right through this that it was he who begged to be majority leader after he marshalled the coup d’état that placed House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to power.

It is Andaya now who is on the receiving end of ouster rumors because the House members see him as a captain of a sinking ship. Embarrassing as it sounds, Andaya has not received a single word of support from President Duterte, even from the Senate. Senate President Tito Sotto has not been supportive of the tirades of Andaya due to the latter’s whimsical stance on the abolition of the Road Board.

The last piece of ammunition of Andaya — a petition for mandamus to be filed before the Supreme Court (SC) to compel Diokno to release funds for the salary hike of all government employees. Andaya promised that he will force the release upon Diokno and bring Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to court should the increase not be made tomorrow, 15 January. We see Andaya making media rounds on this matter as an attempt to shroud his liability on the non-increase.

“It appears that Andaya is ready to go down guns blazing now that everyone knows that he never had the support of Malacañang.

Unfortunately, this will be all for naught. Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy to compel performance of a ministerial function. How can the DBM’s function to increase salaries be said to be ministerial, when there are no funds to speak of by reason of the non-passage of the 2019 budget? Further, Diokno himself said the 2019 budget will be enacted in February and with the enactment comes the retroactive application of the increase of salaries.

Diokno, confident in his position, dared Andaya to file the case. Once filed before the SC, this will be resolved in a couple of months’ time and it is likely that the 2019 budget will be passed ahead of its resolution. Once the 2019 budget is passed, this would effectively render the mandamus petition to be moot and academic. In the end, we’d see that the time and money wasted on the preparation and filing of the mandamus petition benefited no one except Andaya, who will use this opportunity to grandstand and try to woo the President and his voters so he can win in the upcoming elections. It is amusing how local politics can affect the entire country and its citizens so deeply.