MANILA, Philippines – For the third straight year, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Office of the President (OP) breezed through committee-level budget deliberations despite the leftist bloc’s objections, with one of his in-laws championing his funding request for 2025.
Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco, whose wife Michelle Romualdez Yap is Marcos’ cousin, facilitated the vote to terminate the OP’s budget briefing, elevating its request from the appropriations committee to the House plenary. He also sponsored the President’s budget for fiscal year 2023 two years ago.
It is not unusual for members of the Marcos clan to take on crucial roles during high-level budget deliberations. House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos, son of the President, was also the one who moved to terminate budget deliberations for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2024.
The three-member Makabayan bloc tried to stop the panel from terminating the committee-level budget deliberations for the OP this year, but was overruled by their colleagues. The motion to end the hearing was carried only four minutes after OP officials finished their presentation.
“Gusto po naming makapagtanong mula sa mga Makabayan bloc dahil mayroon kaming mga krusyal na tanong kaugnay dito (We in the Makabayan bloc would like to ask crucial questions), like the foreign policy, like the Quiboloy issue, like the unprogrammed appropriations issues,” House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas of party-list group Gabriela said.
It’s a time-honored tradition in the House, even under previous administrations, to grant parliamentary courtesy to the Office of the President during committee-level budget deliberations, but critics have insisted that the privilege shields the country’s highest leader from scrutiny.
‘Lying’
House members also voted to strike from the records comments made by Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel about the President supposedly being untruthful, following a motion raised by House Assistant Majority Leader Janette Garin.
Manuel was referring to remarks made by Marcos last week in which he denied that congressional budget deliberations for the OVP led by Sara Duterte, which he is no longer allied with, were being politicized.
“Ang sabi po ng Presidente, all government agencies undergo the same process during budget deliberations, bilang sagot sa Office of the Vice President,” Manuel said. “Kung ite-terminate natin ang deliberations… pinapalabas natin na nagsisinungaling ang mismong Presidente via evading the process of Congress.“
(The President said all government agencies undergo the same process during budget deliberations, in response to the Office of the Vice President. If we will terminate deliberations of the OP, we would make it appear as if the President is lying by evading the process of Congress.)
“We have to delete that portion wherein you were insinuating that there would be ‘pagsisinungaling‘ (an act of lying) if we follow tradition. Everything that is tackled in this committee and in the House is voted upon by the majority,” Tiangco replied.
The Office of the President is requesting a total of P10.506 billion, including continuing appropriations, for 2025, slightly lower than the P10.645 billion it has for the current year.
“We believe that the proposed amount will be sufficient and adequate for the President to meet the exacting demands of being the head of state and government, chief architect of Philippine foreign policy, and the commander-in-chief,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said during his opening speech.
The amount includes P2.25 billion for confidential expenses, P2.310 billion for intelligence expenses, and P1.054 billion for travel expenses.
“Sa P10 bilyon na budget ng OP, halos kalahati dito ay nasa CF [confidential fund] at intelligence fund. Hindi po ito dapat dahil hindi naman ito ang mandato ng Office of the President (In the P10-billion budget of the OP, almost half goes to confidential and intelligence funds. This should not be the case because this is not the OP’s mandate),” House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers said.
House appropriations committee senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo insisted that even though committee-level budget deliberations for the OP were terminated, its funding request would still be scrutinized in the House plenary. – Rappler.com