Senators want bicam talks made public

Senators want bicam talks made public | Daily Tribune

The Senate minority bloc, joined by Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino, filed a joint resolution Tuesday calling for greater transparency in the bicameral conference committee budget deliberations.

In filing Senate Joint Resolution No. 1, Senators Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Loren Legarda — all members of the new Senate minority bloc—said the bicam deliberations on the 2025 national budget were marred by “irregularities and distortions.”

“The most serious irregularity was the violation of the constitutionally mandated provision that education shall have the highest budgetary priority,” their joint resolution read.

To recall, the 19th Congress approved the 2025 General Appropriations Bill, which included the highest allocation for the education sector amounting to P1.113 trillion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways with P1.007 trillion.

The senators reiterated in their joint resolution that “corruption and harmful political insertions in legislation lead to the unfair use of public funds.”

“Corruption deprives the poor and the underprivileged of food security, decent housing, timely healthcare, quality and accessible education, and effective responses to the climate emergency. It also slows down progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” they said.

In order to avoid the practice, the minority bloc members, along with Pangilinan and Aquino, said that all bicam deliberations must be open to the public, conducted in person, or livestreamed.

“The bicameral conference committee shall produce a matrix comparing the differences between the House of Representatives’ and the Senate’s versions of the bill, and how these differences were resolved. This matrix will be made available to the public,” the resolution said.

The senators also said the bicam shall “immediately produce comprehensive minutes of the meetings which will also be open to the public.”

The 2025 General Appropriations Act was deemed controversial as many viewed the budget as marred by corruption through last-minute insertions by awmakers during the bicam deliberations.

In a report by Vera Files, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero allegedly inserted a P142.7-billion allocation in the 2025 national budget through a “small” bicam.

According to the report, Escudero introduced the biggest allocation for Bulacan—the home province of Senator Joel Villanueva, who returned to his former post as majority leader on Monday.

Citing a 103-page document, the report said a total of P12,084,500,000 went to Villanueva’s bailiwick, with P2,930,000,000 allocated to the province’s flood control projects.

The second-highest allocation went to Sorsogon—Escudero’s home province––with a total of P9,136,000,000. The majority of the allocations were for infrastructure projects such as roads, buildings, and bridges.

Escudero has denied the allegations, describing the report as a demolition job.

“They first said it was P9 billion for Sorsogon, then P12 billion for Bulacan. Next, they claimed it was P142 billion, then they erased that and made it P150 billion. Which figure am I even supposed to respond to? Secondly, at first, they said it was just me, then they included Senator Villanueva, and eventually they said it was the entire Senate,” Escudero said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

“I’ll give you the full answer. The total proposed amendments to the 2025 budget amounted to roughly P600 billion. Some items were realigned, removed, or added. So if what they’re saying is true—that the Senate changed P150 billion—where did the remaining P500 billion in changes come from?” he asked.

The Senate chief blamed the House of Representatives for the release of a CCTV video showing his visit to the lower chamber during last year’s bicam deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget, calling the report malicious.

“That likely came from them too [House of Representatives] because the smear campaign we’ve traced against us is coming from the House. I may have visited twice, but not the office of Speaker Romualdez,” he said.

“I went to the office where the bicam was being held. It was also discussed during the bicameral conference committee meeting. The visit was to ensure the staff were doing their jobs properly and that everything was running smoothly without issues,” he said.

He continued: “What are they insinuating? That I went there? So now it’s forbidden to go and do your job as a bicam member? Is it wrong for the Senate President to check if the staff working on the bicam were doing things properly? Jumping to that kind of insinuation—surely that’s not right.”