Bill seeking to repeal automatic debt service filed in House

A bill that seeks to repeal the automatic debt payment in the national budget and allow Congress to fully exercise its ‘power of the purse’ has been filed in the House of Representatives. In filing House Bill 1717, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and his brother Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez are seeking to repeal Section 7 of Presidential Decree No. 81; Section 21 of PD 1177; and Sections 1, 2, and 3 of PD 1967. They said the Constitution mandates Congress to enact appropriation measures for government expenditure, be it domestic or foreign, which is known as power of the purse. However, this power has been diluted by the said decrees mandating automatic appropriation for debt payment and converted Congress into a mere rubber-stamp, the two lawmakers said. [See also: Senate Bill 1558] According to them, debt service has been eating up a big chunk of the national budget, adding that of the P1.138 trillion current general appropriations, P318 billion or 28 percent have been earmarked for debt service (interest payments only). Moreover, they said Congress has authority to scrutinize only the remaining 72 percent of the proposed budget, and not the portion allotted for debt services. Several attempts at Congress to seek judicial nullification of the said PDs had failed. “These PDs were crafted during the one-man rule of President (Ferdinand) Marcos and thus should be stricken off our statute books now and forever," the lawmakers said. They added the bill, once approved, will once and for all cleanse the statute books of remaining vestiges of martial rule and restore to Congress the power of the purse. — Amita O. Legaspi/LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV