House, Senate spat reignites

Senators were firm, however, over not giving in to any House demand.

The word war between the House of Representatives and the Senate which resulted in the delay in the approval of the 2019 budget for more than four months has been rekindled yesterday again over pork barrel, as members of the House of Representatives suggested that the rival chamber’s budget needs to be slashed.

Following the practice of realigning budgets, the House threatened to slash the allocation of the Senate and apportion these to district representatives.

Senators were firm, however, over not giving in to any House demand including the sought apology.

The proposal was apparently in retaliation to Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s accusation that the House tried to insert P54 billion worth of pork barrel funds in the 2020 budget bill.

During his interpellation of Capiz Rep. Fred Castro, who in his privilege speech demanded an apology from Lacson over his alleged “irresponsible” accusations, Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor issued the proposal on reducing the Senate’s budget.

Defensor pointed out that senators, who do not have a constituency, should not be given a budget.

“Do they have a constituency that they have to protect and have to take care of?” Defensor asked Castro.

To this, the former Majority Leader replied: “Well, allegedly, if you listen to them, while we have our district, they have the whole Republic of the Philippines. But strictly speaking it could not be considered as constituency,” Castro said.

“Considering that they do not have any constituency, I don’t not see the logic that they should be given funds to be disposed of in the same manner that congressmen are given the access and choice for their constituents,” he added.

Defensor said he hopes Castro will be a member of the House contingent in the upcoming bicameral conference committee hearing into the 2020 budget so that he could object to all the proposals of the senators.

“I hope the honorable privilege speaker will be given a chance to sit in the bicameral conference committee, so that all initiatives coming from senators will be taken out, because the budget for them should be given to the district representatives and the different representatives advocating for certain sectors and protecting certain services,” he expressed.

In his privilege speech, Castro demanded an apology from Lacson for allegedly eroding the reputation of the House.

Lacson earlier said some congressmen told him that the 22 deputy speakers of the House would get an allocation of P1.5 billion each.

He later clarified this and said the House had cancelled its attempt to insert pork into the spending bill.

“Perhaps Lacson could be sensible enough to realize what he has done and that he has damaged this institution by extending an apology — a sincere apology to this institution and to all the members of the House of Representatives. He should and must apologize to this institution and to all of you, my dear colleagues,” Castro further stressed.

Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante also manifested on the floor his demand for an apology from Lacson.

“I demand that Senator Lacson issue an apology to this House,” he said when he interpellated Castro.

But for Defensor, it is not only Lacson who should apologize to the chamber, but the whole Senate.

“I join the minority floor leader and the honorable Fred Castro in demanding apology not only from Senator Lacson but even from the Senate who cannot discipline a member among their ranks,” he said.

Lacson said the House should not expect any apology from him.

“The whining and howling of Congressman Castro and his like-minded colleagues will not distract me from performing my mandate of scrutinizing the budget measure,” the senator said.

He added: “I was in this fight alone for a long time. Now that many like-minded colleagues in the Senate are equally committed to do the same, with more reason I should be more vigilant.”

Senate President Vicente Sotto III backed Lacson, saying there is no need for disciplinary actions against Lacson as there were no violations committed.

“Why will we discipline our members? I’m not aware of any violation of any of our members. We do not interfere with their internal business, so I expect them not to interfere with ours,” Sotto said.