Makabayan solons want end to closed-door 2025 budget discussions

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday called on their colleagues to open the bicameral conference panel deliberations on the proposed P6.352-trillion budget for 2025 to the public, including journalists.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro, House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas and Kabataan party-list lawmaker Raoul Manuel made the call in House Resolution 2067, citing that their pitch for opening the closed-door bicameral conference committee discussions on the proposed 2025 national budget is in accordance with Article 6, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that “each House may determine the rules of its proceedings" guided by the principles of transparency and accountability enshrined in the Constitution.

“The bicameral conference committee, tasked with reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of bills including the annual General Appropriations Bill 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,” the lawmakers said.

The authors cited the case of the 2024 proposed national budget which was amended in the bicameral panel level to include a provision allowing government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) like Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to be tapped as funding sources for unprogrammed appropriations (UA), or those budget items which will only be funded if there are available funds.

“This [amendment] that basically allowed billions of pesos to be converted to UAs. The insertion [in the bicam level], despite being absent in both chambers' versions, led to PhilHealth being required to remit P89.9 billion in excess subsidies to the National Treasury,” the lawmakers said.

”This "Third Chamber" practice of introducing new provisions during bicameral conference meetings undermines the democratic process and violates the principle that conference committees should limit themselves to reconciling differences between the two chambers' versions. In effect, the closed-door "Third House" overrules the decisions of the Lower House and the Senate, which are public as mandated by the Constitution,” the lawmakers added.

In addition, the opposition legislators said that public access to the proceedings of bicameral conference committees will serve as a deterrent against questionable insertions and ensure that discussions remain within the scope of reconciling legitimate differences between the House and Senate versions.

“Transparency in budget deliberations is crucial in enabling citizen participation in governance, ensuring that public funds are appropriated in accordance with the people's needs and interests, and assuring the right of the people to hold senators and congresspersons into account for their actions during the proceedings,” they said.

“Now, therefore, be it resolved, as it is resolved, that the House of Representatives open to the public and the media all Bicameral Conference Committee hearings and documents on the national budget, starting with the General Appropriations Bill Fiscal Year 2025, with complete transcripts made available for public scrutiny,” they added. — BM, GMA Integrated News