Visayas, Mindanao solons protest ‘inequitable’ budget sharing

Lawmakers from Visayas and Mindanao on Wednesday protested the alleged inequitable distribution of the proposed P1.645-billion national budget for 2011 among the country’s 17 regions spread across three island groups. In the middle of the budget deliberation at the House of Representatives, Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia tried to deliver a speech on the concern of the 54 legislators from the Visayas and 58 from Mindanao. Garcia tried to reiterate the points raised in a previous speech by his fellow Visayan colleague, Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado, who expressed his “disappointment and frustration against the discrimination injustice inflicted upon the people of Regions 6, 7 and 8, the Visayas." However, Garcia’s speech was cut off by his colleagues. “[I understand] that we are in the period of considering the General Appropriations Act for 2011 and we are still in that stage," Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla butted in. At this point, Garcia raised his voice and moved to suspend discussions on House Bill 3101 or the proposed national budget. Several lawmakers shouted in approval of Garcia’s motion. The session was then suspended and his colleagues tried to appease Garcia. Mindanao solons to meet Thursday In an interview with reporters, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said that under the proposed budget, only 7.7 percent was allotted for the whole Visayas while 10 percent was for Mindanao. The whole of Luzon will get 16.34 percent share of the budget while the National Capital Region will be getting 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, 31.7 percent of the budget will be for the national government’s central offices. Evardone told reporters that he and other Visayan lawmakers “met early this lunch to discuss the quandary we’re in." As a result, “we decided to move for the suspension of the budget deliberation until the inequitability of the 2011 budget has been clarified and adjusted," he added. Evardone further said the Mindanao solons were supposed to meet Thursday to discuss the matter. “Actually our meeting hindi pinlano ito eh. Talagang pent-up na ang sentiments ng mga kasama natin. Nag-usap kami at yun ang decision namin," he said. (Actually, our meeting was not planned. Our colleagues simply released their pent-up sentiments.) “It just so happened that the Mindanao bloc is also meeting tomorrow apparently for the same purpose," Evardone explained. 'Why is the distribution lopsided?' “We have not arrived at the figure on how much Visayas would require or need, [but] what we want is an equitable and just distribution of resources," said the lawmaker. The group of Visayan lawmakers agreed that they will stall the deliberation or question the quorum if the lawmakers will proceed with the budget discussion without resolving the issue, he added. Evardone however believed that their action will not be a reason for the current 2010 budget to be simply reenacted for next year. “Hindi naman siguro, matagal pa ito (I don’t think so, we still have ample time). What we want is an explanation. Why the lopsided distribution of resources in favor of the central office," he said. “Spending the lump-sum allocations would be at the discretion of the department heads. So there is absolutely no assurance our region could benefit from that budgetary allocation. We need a detailed explanation of how the lump sum is going to be spent," the Eastern Samar congressman explained. Thorough explanation needed In a separate interview, former Budget Secretary and now Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya refused to call the Visayan lawmakers’ action as “dissatisfaction," saying that his colleagues only need a thorough explanation on the matter and be assured that they will receive an equitable share. “Dapat ipaliwanag sa lahat na hindi lahat ng budget ng department nasa regional o nasa probinsya o nasa distrito. Merong mga opisina na talagang centralized ang pondo at may mga items on expenditure na talagang sa Central Office muna. Kailangan lang siguro magkaroon ng explanation dahil marami tayong bagong miyembro. There should be proper explanation kung bakit ganun yung paghahati," Andaya said. (We should explain to all concerned that a department’s entire budget will not be allocated to regions, or to provinces or districts. In some offices, the funds are tightly centralized and there are expenditure items that are strictly for the Central Office. Perhaps what’s needed is to provide an explanation, since we have new House members. There should be proper explanation why the sharing is done that way.) He said the limited time to ask questions during the budget hearings at the committee level could be the reason his colleagues still do not have a clear view on the budget. “A lot of the sub-committee hearings were done in haste to accommodate, to meet the deadline, so [I think the problem lies there]. A lot of members were not given time to ask their questions. Second reading na ngayon pero hindi pa klaro sa kanila ano yung matatanggap ng kanilang distrito. (It’s now on second reading but they’re still not clear about how much will go to their district.) I think that is what causing the confusion," Andaya said. He said the budget was divided depending on the population of the regions and the ongoing projects. “Budgeting is not solely based on geographical boundaries. You should take a look at the priorities of the government," he said. Andaya also assured his colleagues from the South that the budget would trickle down to the regions once Congress approves it. The lawmaker added that complains on budget distribution is not a new thing. “Every year [there’s a] complaint. Siguro ngayon dahil maraming bagong miyembro kailangan ng explanation (Maybe because we have many new members now, an explanation is needed)… senior members will always support, take the cudgels for the younger members," he said. He further said the lawmakers will have their opportunity to put their insertions or amendments to the budget. “There will always be insertion, imposibleng wala (to have no none is impossible)," Andaya said, adding that Congress has the right to introduce amendments to the budget. He also agreed with Evardone that a reenacted budget is not an option at this point. “We will have a new budget, [we just need] extra time…, extra effort. The instruction given to the Speaker would be to have a new budget. I don’t see the possibility [that we will have a] reenacted budget," he said.—JV, GMANews.TV