The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the House of Representatives and the Senate to submit supporting documents explaining hundreds of billions of pesos in changes introduced during bicameral conference committee deliberations, as the Court intensified its scrutiny of Congress' exercise of its power over the national budget.
Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen issued the directive before the conclusion of oral arguments on consolidated petitions challenging the constitutionality of unprogrammed appropriations, emphasizing the need for transparency in how the bicameral conference committee arrived at its final budget figures.
Leonen specifically cited the point raised by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin "Ben" Caguioa regarding the supporting documents attached to bicameral conference committee reports.
"I think the point made by Justice Caguioa with respect to the attachments or supporting documents of the bicameral conference committee report is very salient," Leonen said.
The Court noted that both the House-approved General Appropriations Bill and the Senate version of the 2024 budget were reportedly consistent with the National Expenditure Program submitted by the Executive, yet the bicameral conference committee later introduced an additional P400 billion to P500 billion in appropriations.
To clarify how those changes were made, Leonen directed counsels representing Congress to secure records from both chambers.
"Kindly request from the House and the Senate, your clients, whether there are supporting documents, once and for all," Leonen said.
"If there are none, we need a certification that there are no supporting documents and an explanation as to how they arrived at the increases and decreases."
The justice added that the Court observed appropriation figures containing centavo amounts, prompting questions about the methodology used to compute the revised allocations.
"We want to know how they are computed and why there are no documentations," Leonen said.
