MIRIAM: EXPOSE BUDGET INSERTS

“All decisions made by the bicameral conference should be printed and circulated to members of both houses of Congress three days before the panel’s ratification of the bicameral committee report,” she said.

Santiago said the bicameral committee members often abuse their authority.

“With the budget, the bicam not only reconciles the differences between the House and the Senate versions. Under the most secretive conditions, the conference introduces budget items that did not exist in any version,” she said.

Santiago said that to make the budget process transparent, the bicam should be limited to reconciling the disagreeing provisions of the House and the Senate versions.

“No new budget programs, projects, and activities should be introduced during the process of budget reconciliation,” she said.

Santiago urged the media to expose all congressional initiatives every year- end, listing the legislators, the public works projects, and the amounts.

“Even I, a senator no less, was refused by the Legislative Budget Review and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) when I asked for such a list yesterday,” she said.

Santiago said refusal to give her the information violates the “constitutionally protected right of the public to information on matters of public concern.”
Santiago said it was the second time that the LBRMO refused to give her information, the first having been her request for the names of senators, if any, who have returned to the Senate at yearend any excess money from their Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).

In her first year as senator in 1996, Santiago returned her excess fund, but was severely criticized by her then colleagues in the Senate for alleged breach of confidentiality.

“Congressional insertions are part of the amendment process of the budget, but like pork barrel funds, they should be revealed to the public with respect to recipients and amounts,” she said.

Santiago also urged the two finance chairs – Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Rep. Edcel Lagman – to ensure that the budget indicates if an appropriation is part of a multi-year “installment plan.”

“For example, if the C-5 extension project really costs P 4 billion to be paid in annual installments, then every appropriation should be marked as ‘Installment 1,’ and so on. That way, we shall avoid public suspicion of an improper double entry,” she said.

Santiago said that Senate Pres. Manny Villar was not necessarily culpable, if he requested the congressional insertion of another P200 million for the same project that had already been given the same amount in another page.

“It appears that there were double entries, because the first entry was one installment, and the second entry was another installment on the total amount appropriated for the same project,” she said.

Santiago proposed that the Senate President and the Speaker should agree on a policy of self-restraint and public disclosure, by adopting the policy of notifying each legislator that each one is entitled to a congressional insertion uniformly limited in amount.

“Congressional insertions are objectionable, because they are done secretly, and some senators get more money than others, while others do not even ask for anything at all,” she said.

Santiago was one of few senators named by Sen. Enrile as those who did not make any congressional insertions for the 2005 budget.