THE bicameral conference committee on the 2019 proposed national budget will reconvene on Monday next week, Jan. 28, to reconcile the differences between the two chambers’ versions of the budget bill.
The first bicameral meeting convened on Tuesday, but deferred the second meeting to next week after the original meeting scheduled for Wednesday schedule did not go ahead. Congress has more than two weeks left before it adjourns on Feb. 8.
“On Jan. 28, Monday at 10 a.m. we will resume the bicameral conference of the budget and the House has committed to finish it on or before Jan. 30 for a Senate ratification of Feb. 6. I have the commitment of (House appropriations committee chairperson) Congressman (Rolando G.) Andaya, (Jr.), my counterpart in the House, and they’re just reviewing all their amendments and possibly the Senate amendments which was transmitted to them,” Finance committee chair Senator Loren B. Legarda told reporters.
“We hope by Monday we will iron out the differences and come out with an agreement or a compromise on both Houses’ amendments,” she added.
Ms. Legarda said she wanted the bicameral conference committee on the 2019 budget to finish this week so the final version of the budget bill could be finalized over the weekend ready for its ratification.
“But it did not push through. We adjusted. There’s a bicam on Monday,” she said.
She said the Senate contingent has yet to receive the feedback of their House counterparts with the Senate’s amendments in the proposed 2019 national budget. She added that the first bicameral meeting have not yet discussed in detail the contents of the bill.
In the senator’s statement issued late Tuesday, Ms. Legarda said the Senate and House panels in the bicameral meeting have agreed to use the National Expenditure Program (NEP) as reference and “meet halfway” on the amendments of both chambers.
Among the Senate amendments in the budget bill included the additional P20-billion budget to the Department of Health (DoH) and the reduction of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget due to the road right of way issues and the projects that were not part of the agency’s original submission to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Asked for a possible deadlock that may occur on Monday, Ms. Legarda assured that there would be no reenacted budget for the entire year.
“We will make sure that there is no reenacted budget. We will make sure that the budget that we worked hard for last year will be implemented… I talked to Rep. Andaya, and Deputy Speaker Arthur C. Yap; they assured me, we will not allow a reenacted budget,” she said.
The Senate contingent to the bicameral conference committee consists of Ms. Legarda, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, Senators Cynthia A. Villar, Panfilo M. Lacson, Juan Edgardo M. Angara, Nancy S. Binay-Angeles, Joseph Victor G. Ejercito and Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV.
Meanwhile, the House members included Messrs. Andaya and Yap as well as, Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez, Compostella Valley Rep. Ma. Carmen S. Zamora, SAGIP Partylist Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta, Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, Malabon City Rep. Federico S. Sandoval II, Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio R. Sy-Alvarado, Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, Davao Oriental Rep. Corazon N. Nunez-Malanyaon, Camiguin Rep. Jesus D. Romualdo, San Jose Del Monte City Rep. Florida P. Robes, Leyte Rep. Vicente S.E. Veloso, Cebu City Rep. Raul V. Del Mar, and Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

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