Charter change budget could reach P14B, says Lagman

Budget for the Charter change initiative being pushed by some majority lawmakers is worth at least P14 billion under the P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said Tuesday.

In a statement, Lagman said the amount dwarfs the allocations for six government agencies under the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

"The huge allocation of P14 billion is bigger than the appropriations for the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) – P9,89 billion; Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – P8,63 billion; Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) – P8.08 billion; Office of the Ombudsman – P5.53 billion; Department of Tourism – P3.4 billion; and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development – P3.3 billion," he said.

The lawmaker said the P14-billion funding is lodged under the conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes and plebiscites budget item of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), and that P12 billion was inserted during the bicameral  conference committee level deliberations on the 2024 national budget.

"The appropriations for these activities in the 2023 GAA was only P2 billion, which [means the budget for the same item was] increased by about 700% this year," Lagman said.

Comelec’s request

In response, House Committee on Appropriations chair Zaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list clarified that the P12 billion increase for Comelec’s conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes and plebiscites from an initial proposal of the administration at P2 billion is not for Charter change and an increase requested by the Comelec, not the lawmakers.

“The P12 billion added to Comelec’s P2 billion budget was made upon the request of the poll body whose proposed P19.4 billion budget in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) was slashed by P17.4 billion by the Department of Budget and Management before submission to Congress. Comelec Chairman George Garcia personally appealed during the budget hearing in Congress to [call on us to] restore their budget,” Co said in a statement.

“Congressman [Joseph Steven] Caraps Paduano [of Abang Lingkod party-list], who presided over that meeting, attests that such request was approved by the committee and reflected in the minutes. Was Congressman Lagman sleeping on the job that he missed that?” Co added.

Likewise, Co noted that Comelec’s 2024 budget request is at P19.4 billion, which means the poll body’s entire budget request was not granted.

“Comelec was thankful to the Bicam for the increase, and you can ask them about it. This [P12 billion for Charter Change] is another one of his [Lagman’s] wild and irresponsible accusations,” he stressed.

“This is the Comelec's budget. No other agency, not even Congress, can touch or release even one centavo of it. Is Congressman Lagman saying that Comelec commissioners would use those funds for Charter change? If he can’t prove it, then he better shut up,” he added.

In a statement, Lagman blasted Co for saying he was "sleeping on the job." Co, he said, "must stop calling me names and becoming personal but must stick to the facts and the truth that P12-B was inserted by the bicameral conference committee in the 2024 Comelec’s budget for 'plebiscites,' among others, related to the charter change agenda."

"How could I be sleeping on the job when the insertion was made by the bicameral conference committee of which I was not appointed as a member after years of being a conferee as former chair of the appropriations committee?" he said.

Lagman also countered in another statement that Comelec chair George Garcia informed him that P12-billion budget increase was not requested by Comelec.

"The Commission on Elections, through Chairman George Garcia, did not request for the P12-B augmentation for the subject activities, including the plebiscites for charter change," said Lagman. 

“I have asked Chairman Garcia, through a mutual friend, whether he requested this huge increase, and he said no," added Lagman.

GMA News Online has sought comment from Garcia regarding the matter and confirmed that it was indeed the Comelec who asked for the restoration.

"Yes. Paulit-ulit ko binabanggit during our budget hearing na sana maibalik ang 17.4B na tinanggal sa amin. Cong. Paduano moved to restore and the Committee hearing our budget approved the motion. We thank the bicam for restoring the said amount although unfortunately hindi 17.4B," Garcia told GMA News Online.

However, Lagman said, "What Chairman Garcia requested to be restored was inadequately given back to the Comelec and what was inserted was for the subject exorbitant augmentation, which he did not request...This P12-B insertion was not in response to the Comelec’s request to restore its budget which was reduced in the submission of the National Expenditure Program (NEP). What was given to Comelec was not requested by it in the form of additional appropriation for the charter change agenda."

MY PRESS STATEMENT ON THE ACCUSATION OF AKO BICOL REPRESENTATIVE FOR TELLING THAT I’M SLEEPING ON MY JOB AND CALLING ME NAMES REGARDING THE UNREQUESTED PHP 12B FUNDS OF COMELEC FOR CHACHA pic.twitter.com/64KMtTjToR

— Edcel Lagman (@lagman_edcel) January 9, 2024

People's initiative

Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales earlier said the House of Representatives is keen on amending the 1987 Constitution via people’s initiative, a method wherein Constitutional amendments are proposed upon a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein. 

Gonzales said as provided by the 1987 Constitution, the bill on Charter change stemming from people’s initiative should be jointly voted upon by all members of Congress.

But for Lagman, the people's initiative route is tantamount to a congressional initiative, particularly of the members of the House of Representatives.

The proposed people’s initiative will make the voting in the constituent assembly of representatives and senators a joint voting which would fast track the approval of proposed amendments to the Constitution since the more numerous Representatives would overwhelm the Senators,"" Lagman said.

Lagman and Kabataan party-list lawmaker earlier flagged the alleged attempts to hoodwink the people into affixing signatures in forms calling for Charter change by giving money and telling them that government subsidy to those in need will continue and expand provided that the beneficiaries support Charter change. 

Legazpi City, Albay mayor Alfredo Garbin, a former Ako Bicol party-list lawmaker, denied Lagman's accusations that he was involved in offering money for Charter change support during a January 5 meeting.

"To be clear, I maintain that there was no such release of money or flow of funds that transpired in the meeting with the purview that it will be in exchange for the voter’s signature. There is nothing illegal that transpired during the meeting," Garbin said.

"Interestingly, election laws allow campaign expenditures to be incurred by candidates or political parties in order to lodge a campaign and generate votes." 

In March 2023, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6, which calls for a constitutional convention (con-con) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

RBH No. 6 states that a con-con with elected delegates would draft the new constitution - "the most transparent, exhaustive, democratic, and least divisive means of implementing constitutional reforms."

Under the 1987 Constitution, any amendment to or revision of the Constitution may be proposed by:

• the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members (constituent assembly)
• a constitutional convention during which Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention, and
• a people’s initiative upon a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein

—Llanesca T. Panti/VAL/KBK/BM, GMA Integrated News