Congress told to act on impeachment complaints, ‘mangled’ national budget
A POLITICAL group on Tuesday urged the Philippine Congress to act on impeachment complaints filed against Vice-President Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, while also reconvening its joint panel on the budget bill to return slashed funding to the education and social services sector before it goes on break.
The Senate and the House of Representatives will adjourn for 22 days, starting Dec. 21 until Jan. 13 for its Christmas break.
“There are two things Congress should do before adjourning for the Christmas break: Undo its mangling of the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA); [and] impeach Ms. Duterte,” Teodoro A. Casiño, chairman of political group Bayan Muna, said in a statement.
The Congress-approved proposed national budget slashed a total of P352.9 billion from the Education, Health, and Social Welfare departments, together with the National Irrigation Administration, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PHilHealth), and special purpose funds and personnel benefit fund, according to Mr. Casiño.
Meanwhile, two impeachment complaints have been lodged against Ms. Duterte in early December, with critics saying her failure to account for her public fund spending paved the way for her removal from office. The complaints alleged graft and corruption, bribery, and betrayal of public trust, among other crimes.
In a separate statement, Zambales Rep. Jefferson F. Khonghun said that allocations provided to the education sector are higher than funds allotted for the Public Works department, amid concerns on the budget bill’s constitutionality.
“Based on our data and figures in the 2025 national budget, it is clear that education still has the highest funding compared to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). It is not true that the DPWH budget is larger than that of education,” he said in a statement.
He claimed that funding for the education sector totaled P1.05 trillion, P22 billion higher than DPWH’s P1.03-trillion allocations. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
