The will of the Palace prevailed yesterday in prodding Congress to remove obstacles to the approval of the P3.757 trillion proposed 2019 national budget following the decision of House Majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. to step down while approving the Road Board abolition bill without resistance.

I am stepping down as Majority Leader to assume the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropriations

Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro was voted in the plenary to replace Andaya and to take the chairmanship at the Committee on Rules.

Andaya yielded his position during the plenary session, which he said was meant for him to assume the vacant seat at the Committee of Appropriations.

“I am stepping down as Majority Leader to assume the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropriations,” Andaya said.

He said Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has accepted his offer to relinquish the post and lead the Appropriations Committee to complete the “unfinished business,” which was the approval of the 2019 national budget.

“I am leading the House team that will meet with our Senate counterparts in the bicameral conference committee to wrap up the fine print of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill,” Andaya confirmed.

Malacañang distanced itself from what it called as “political intramurals” at the House.

“The Executive has nothing to do with the political intramurals happening in the House of Representatives. We respect its independence, including its internal rules and affairs,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

With Castro now the majority leader, the Palace official expressed confidence of better ties in the offing between the Executive and Legislative branches of government.

“We wish him all the best in his new undertaking as we express confidence in better Executive-Congress ties with him at the helm,” Panelo stated.

The official likewise stressed that Andaya stepping down has nothing to do with his conflict with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The Appropriations Committee was headed by Vice Chairman Compostela Valley Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora after it was vacated by former Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles who President Rodrigo Duterte recently appointed as Cabinet Secretary.

“As Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I intend to utilize my last few days in Congress ensuring that the 2019 General Appropriations Act is transparent, fair to all and responsive to the needs of our people. If transparency and accountability in the GAA will be my only legacy as House leader, so be it,” Andaya added.

“If I could serve the House of Representatives being the majority leader, why not?” Castro told reporters.

Castro said that Malacañang has nothing to do with the House shuffle.

“I was recommending my good friend Fred Castro to be the Majority Leader. I was happy being Deputy Speaker. I said that six months would be the maximum, then please release me. This job has tied me down in Manila when I should be focusing in Camarines Sur,” Andaya said earlier.

The House also approved House Bill 7436 or the Road Board Abolition Bill on third and final reading with a vote of 180-0 after both Houses broke the impasse last week and agreed to amend the bill through the bicameral conference.

Last week, Andaya, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri had a meeting where they tackled the direction of the Road Board abolition bill.

The approval of the bill was marked as urgent after President Duterte called for the use of the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge to reconstruct areas damaged by typhoon “Usman.”

The Senate, meanwhile, approved on third and final reading the 2019 budget bill through a unanimous 15-0 vote.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III also created a Senate team led by Finance Committee chair Sen. Loren Legarda to hold a bicameral conference today with the House to tackle conflicting provisions of bill.

SOTTO Members of the Senate contingent are Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Senators Cynthia Villar, Panfilo Lacson, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Bam Aquino.

The conference is expected to be “bloody,” according to Lacson, following the discovery of a P75 billion “insertion” in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

The Department of Budget and Management said contracts for ongoing projects – specifically those already undertaken in 2018 – will be awarded, while the re-enacted budget is still in place.

In a statement, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government will operate on a re-enacted budget for the first three months.

“Awarding of contracts may already proceed for programs and projects that underwent early procurement if the amount needed can be covered by the funds available under a re-enacted budget,” Diokno said.

“New projects will have to wait until the passing of the GAA before they can have their contracts awarded. We still encourage them, however, to conduct early procurement activities if they have not done so,” he added.

The Budget chief earlier said Congress was expected to approve the P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 by the end of January.

Arroyo said she will press for a proposal to increase the P123.7-billion budget for the Department of Agriculture (DA) by P20 billion and asked the House bicameral conference contingent to include P100 million budget for urban poor housing.

The former president said that her proposal to increase the allocations for the agriculture will help the further lowering of inflation.