This bolsters our position that what we approved and transmitted to the Senate is a constitutionally-compliant General Appropriations Bill.

The House leadership said the Senate’s indication of adopting the 2020 budget bill in full is a vindication of the chamber’s assertion that the spending measure is free from pork barrel.

House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said the Senate’s move was a “step in the right direction.”

He also commended the senators for acknowledging the chamber’s hard work in ensuring a pork-free national budget for next year.

He noted that the pork barrel system is a “thing of the past” and assured that the line item budgeting system will be strictly observed to ensure transparency and accountability in the disbursement of public funds.

“This bolsters our position that what we approved and transmitted to the Senate is a constitutionally-compliant General Appropriations Bill,” Romualdez said.

“Let me reiterate, the money measure that we passed under the leadership of Speaker (Alan Peter) Cayetano will marshal a budget for a meaningful change and a reflection not only of the President’s vision to make the life of Filipinos better, but also to observe the people’s will,” he indicated.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano also thanked Sen. Panfilo Lacson while maintaining that there is no pork nor parked funds in the 2020 budget.

“I thank Senator Ping for what he has stated in his Sunday [interview] that only (an amount of) P9.5 billion were transferred to farmers, education, military and police. There are no more funds for districts (that can be considered as) pork,” Cayetano noted.

The Speaker said the House is planning to sit down with some agencies, including the Department of Education for further clarifications regarding the budget.

He said the budget process is not yet finished as further deliberations will be conducted by lawmakers during the bicameral conference committee.

“There will be a second round in the bicam, but I can assure all of the people including Senator Lacson that there is no parked funds or pork and we will try to eradicate corruption or avenues of corruption (in the budget),” Cayetano said in a chance interview at the House.

He saw the need to further increase the budget of the Agriculture, Health and Education departments.

He stressed Congress should also comply with the Supreme Court decision increasing the salary of nurses.

Romualdez added the swift passage of the 2020 budget, which underwent tight scrutiny by administration and opposition lawmakers, is a product of the chamber’s commitment to help propel the country’s economic growth under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte.

In September, the House approved on third reading House Bill 4228, or the 2020 General Appropriations Bill, which provides for the P4.1 trillion national budget for fiscal year 2020.

As stated in the 2020 GAB, the top 10 agencies with the biggest allocations are the departments of Education, P673 billion; of Public Works and Highways, P534.3 billion; of the Interior and Local Government, P238 billion; of Social Welfare and Development, P195 billion; of National Defense, P189 billion; of Health, P166.5 billion; of Transportation, P147 billion; of Agriculture, P93.1 billion; Judiciary, P38.7 billion and of Environment and Natural Resources, P26.4 billion.