On the Delay in the Passage of the 2019 Budget

More at: https://pinglacson.net/2019/03/01/on-the-delay-in-the-passage-of-the-2019-budget/

If you notice, the budget bill has not been transmitted to Malacañang in spite of the bicam report being ratified by both houses of Congress more than two weeks ago.

I have it on good information that the House leadership is still waiting for several congressmen to finalize the submission of their individual projects. This is not to mention that insertions and realignments were made even after the bicameral report ratification.

While technically speaking, it may not constitute post-legislation enactment since the President has not yet signed the budget measure, we can see clear abuse of discretion especially if done without the concurrence of the Senate; it is also an utter disregard of the Supreme Court's 2013 landmark ruling.

This latest caper that the House leadership is trying to pull off may also constitute violation of the 1987 Constitution. I've talked to some congressmen who expressed anxiety that the pork barrel allocations of at least 60 congressmen were slashed post bicam ratification.

Whatever it is, these are things that they do for greed. It's a shame and revolting, to say the least.