Mas maiging iakyat na sa Korte Suprema ang kuwestyon hinggil sa legalidad ng unprogrammed funds sa ilalim ng 2024 national budget.
Ito ang sinabi ni Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman, matapos maging epektibo ang P5.768 trillion 2024 budget nitong January 1 kung saan kasama ang nasa P449.5 billion na unprogrammed fund.
Ang halaga umano ng unprogrammed funds na inaprubahan ng bicameral conference committee ay sobra sa P281.9 billion na orihinal na inirekomenda ng ehekutibo sa ilalim ng National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Paalala ni Lagman na salig sa Article 6 section 25 paragraph 1 ng ating Saligang Batas, hindi maaaring taasan ng Kongreso ang budget na inirekomenda ng ehekutibo sa ilalim ng NEP.
Gayunman, hindi aniya malinaw na nakasaad kung ang programmed funds lang o kasama na rin ang unprogrammed funds sa sakop ng limitasyon.
Kaya naman ang nakagawian aniya ng Kongreso ay tanging ang programmed appropriations lang ang hindi tinataasan.
“Through the years, the errant interpretation is that only the totality of the programmed appropriations cannot be increased by the Congress so much so that it is the unprogrammed appropriations which have been invariably increased annually to accommodate even partisan and pet projects which are subsequently funded and released during the fiscal year under the suspicious, or even spurious, claim that contingent funding has been realized,” paliwanag ng mambabatas.
At dahil sa hindi aniya ito vineto ng Pangulo ay mas mainam na iakyat na sa Supereme Court ang usapin para mabigyang linaw.
“…a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court is in order to cleanse the GAA of a fatal defect and give guidance to the Congress and the President in the future budget seasons…. since the Constitution does not distinguish between the programmed appropriations and the unprogrammed appropriations with respect to the congressional ban, the ceiling of both cannot be exceeded by the Congress,” sabi pa ni Lagman.| ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
