Makabayan bloc wants bicam budget hearings, documents open to public

France Castro --HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Makabayan bloc lawmakers have pushed for making bicameral conference committee hearings and records on the national budget open to the public to prevent sudden or arbitrary outlay insertions by what is considered the “third chamber.”

ACT Teachers party list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan party list Rep. Raoul Manuel earlier filed House Resolution No. 2067 urging the House of Representatives to open to the public and the media all bicameral conference committee hearings and documents on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), starting with the 2025 national budget.

Need for transparency

According to them, the bicameral conference committee, which is tasked with reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of draft measures, including the annual GAB and revenue bills, has “historically conducted its proceedings behind closed doors.”

“The lack of transparency in bicameral conference committee proceedings has enabled the insertion in the budget law of provisions that were not in the versions approved by either House, and oftentimes not even discussed in the deliberations of either House, effectively circumventing proper legislative scrutiny,” they said.

The Makabayan legislators cited as an example the amendment of the unprogrammed appropriations (UAs) in the 2024 GAB by members of the bicameral conference committee that allowed government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), including the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), to be tapped as funding sources.

They pointed out the amendment “basically allowed billions of pesos to be converted to UAs, or diverted to the purposes (programs and projects) in the UAs, despite the fact they are ‘spoken for pursuant to the respective charters or governing laws of the GOCCs.’”

“The insertion, despite being absent in both chambers versions, led to PhilHealth being required to remit P89.9 billion in excess subsidies to the National Treasury,” they said.