By Junex Doronio
FOR calling the House of Representatives “the most rotten institution” of which he was once a member, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is now seeing the mass exodus of PDP-Laban members to the Lakas – Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) now headed by his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte’s political archrival Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
Surigao del Sur’s 2nd District Representative Johnny Pimentel admitted that he is still weighing his options and that his decision will depend on the developments in the 316-member House of Representatives composed of 253 from congressional districts and 63 party-list representatives.
“We always toe the line with regards to the direction of the leadership…I’m sure that in the coming weeks, there will be more shifting or political alignments,” Pimentel said in his interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source.
To recall, during the previous administration, the PDP-Laban which was founded by the late Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. was taken over by then President Rodrigo Roa Duterte after a long bitter infighting.
The Surigao del Sur lawmaker noted that PDP-Laban had 65 members when the 19th Congress opened but now it has only 27 members.
On the other hand, the ruling Lakas-CMD headed by Romualdez increased its members to 77 from just around 20.
On Monday, November 6, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga’s 3rd District resigned from PDP-Laban over FPRRD’s “most rotten” remark against the lower chamber.
Gonzales then filed House Resolution 1414 reaffirming the solons’ support to Romualdez’s leadership.
Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo Lazatin II, and Siquijor Rep. Zaldy Villa also followed Gonzales in leaving the PDP-Laban and joining Lakas-CMD.
“They are a great addition to the strength and diversity of Lakas-CMD, which is a coalition of hard-working public servants who share a common goal of serving the Filipino people with integrity and dedication under President Marcos’ administration,” Romualdez said after he administered the oath-taking in a simple ceremony held at the Social Hall of the Office of the Speaker in Batasan Complex, Quezon City on Wednesday, November 8.
On Tuesday, November 7, Romualdez administered the oath to Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing as a new Lakas-CMD member who quit the Nacionalista Party of former Speaker Manny Villar who is identified with FPRRD.
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By Junex Doronio
Led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, the House of Representatives has made the right move as six (6) out of 10 Filipinos approved the move of the lower chamber to reallocate the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of civilian agencies to agencies tasked to safeguard the country’s security and sovereignty.
This was revealed in a survey by OCTA Research during the period a few days after the House of Representatives passed on third reading House Bill 8980, or the “2024 General Appropriations Bill,” where it was revealed that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), headed by VP Sara Duterte as its concurrent Secretary, had CIF allocated in their budget.
Administration ally Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo revealed that the OVP spent its P125 million CIF in just 11 days in 2022 and not 19 days as originally reported.
In its third quarter Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 this year, 57 percent of respondents agreed with the decision of the House leadership to realign the confidential funds to agencies directly tasked to safeguard the country’s security and sovereignty.
Support for the lower chamber’s move was highest in Balance Luzon at 75 percent, followed by the National Capital Region at 65 percent, Visayas at 24 percent, and Mindanao at 24 percent.
Only 14 percent disagreed with the HOR’s decision, while 29 percent “did not know” or refused to answer.
Notably, the so-called “intelligencia” class appears more politically aware as 72 percent of socioeconomic class ABC agreed with the realignment of CIF. In comparison, 56 percent and 54 percent of Class D and E agreed to the realignment, respectively.
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By Liezelle Soriano
Majority Leader and Representative of the Second District of Zamboanga City, Manuel Jose Dalipe, moved to send the proposed 2024 national budget to the Senate on Saturday.
This move took place during a plenary session originally intended to welcome the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“Mr. Speaker, I propose that we immediately transmit House Bill No. 8980 and the resolutions we have adopted to the Senate,” Dalipe announced.
House Bill No. 8980 contains the General Appropriations Bill, which was approved with amendments by a small committee. However, it saw a reallocation of P194 billion, including the P1.23 billion designated for confidential funds.
Five government agencies received zero funding for their confidential fund requests.
These are the Office of the Vice President, the Department of Education, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The regular session is scheduled to begin on Monday, November 6.
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By Junex Doronio
AMID COUP RUMORS at the House of Representatives, the National Unity Party (NUP) has expressed strong support for Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, citing his “decisive, result-oriented leadership” that has transformed the lower chamber into a pivotal partner of the Marcos administration in its effort to sustain the country’s economic growth.
There have been persistent but unconfirmed rumors that some lawmakers loyal to Vice President Sara Duterte will oust Romualdez from the speakership and impeach President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“Because of his (Romualdez’s) decisive, result-oriented leadership, Speaker Martin (Romualdez) has managed to shepherd through the 300-plus strong House this early the final approval of all of the President’s priority bills for the year—three months ahead of schedule,” NUP president LRay Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte who represents the 2nd district of Camarines Sur was joined by fellow Biocolano lawmakers Camarines Sur Representatives Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata in airing their strong and continued support for Romualdez.
Rep. Migz Villafuerte pointed out that “the House has certainly been a highly productive legislative chamber on Romualdez’s watch, crafting a substantial number of social protection measures in support of the commitment of President Marcos not to leave any Filipino behind in his Administration’s quest for a peaceful and prosperous nation.”
For his part, Horibata said that under Romualdez’s leadership, “the bigger chamber has likewise passed a substantial number of measures meant to further stimulate the economy post-pandemic, and create more jobs and livelihood opportunities in step with the Marcos administration’s goal of inclusive high growth.”
It can be recalled that the House under Romualdez’s leadership has been looking for ways to fast-track the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
With this goal, the congressmen stripped VP Duterte of her 2024 confidential funds totaling P650 million and realigned them to civilian agencies like the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and other agencies dealing with West Philippine Sea (WPS) concerns.
Maharlika NuMedia learned that the NUP was among the political parties that supported the realignment of the confidential funds.
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By Liza Soriano
The House of Representatives panel has cited in contempt on Monday former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) employee Jeff Tumbado.
Tumbado earlier accused suspended LTFRB Chairman Teofilo Guadiz of being involved in corruption.
After Tumbado repeatedly said that he had no personal knowledge of the alleged corruption, Sagip party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta made the motion and cited him in contempt during the hearing of the House Committee on Transportation.
Tumbado said that it was “only his opinion.”
“I don’t have direct evidence. Dahil lang po ito sa mga sumbong sa akin ng mga operators na sobrang taas ng hinihingi [na pera] para sa provisional authority,” he added.
Marcoleta then said that Tumbado only wasted the time of the lawmakers.
“Wala kaming panahon para sa iyo. Sinayang mo ang oras ng mga kongresista na nagpunta rito,” Marcoleta said.
“We cannot rely on the answers of this resource person,” he added.
The Committee possesses the authority to take action against a witness in cases where the witness disobeys any directive issued by the Committee, refuses to take an oath, declines to provide testimony, or avoids responding to appropriate inquiries posed by the Committee or its members.
Such actions may include the punishment for contempt, provided that a majority of all the Committee’s members support this decision, especially when a witness testifies falsely or evasively.
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By Liezelle Soriano
Lawmakers from the House of Representatives slammed Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Teodoro Locsin Jr. over his “nasty tweet” pertaining to Palestinian children amid the bloody Israel-Hamas conflict.
Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said that there is no room in Philippine society for such a post on social media especially coming from a government official like Locsin.
“Under no circumstance is the killing of Palestinian children justified, and it is no laughing matter when more than a thousand Palestinian children have lost their lives in Gaza within this past week alone,” Adiong said.
“May your (Locsin) statement land on deaf ears. It is unbecoming for any Filipino, much more a high official, to visit genocidal machinations upon innocent children of any nation. An ambassador who is tasked to represent the best of our nation, a defender of our nation’s interests, must espouse our nation’s commitment to peace and humanity,” the lawmaker added.
Locsin earlier tweeted: “That’s why Palestinian children should be killed; they might grow up to be gullible as innocent Palestinians letting Hamas launch rockets at Israel; not that they could stop them but that’s no excuse. They are Muslims. They could stage mass suicide attacks against Hamas until the latter ran out of bullets.”
The tweet on “X” (formerly Twitter) was already deleted and Locsin has apologized for his statement.
But the damage has been done.
Meanwhile, Kabayan party-list Representative Ron Salo said that Locsin’s act was highly irresponsible.
“While Ambassador Locsin has apologized and stated it was a ‘sarcastic response,’ his social media post may be perceived as the official stand of the Philippine government,” Salo said.
“Worse, it jeopardizes our Filipino diplomats particularly in the Middle East who may be perceived as sharing his opinion,” he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has clarified that the statement of Locsin was personal and the former disassociated itself from the latter.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines completely disassociates itself from the statement made on Twitter by Ambassador Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. Such statement was made in his strictly personal capacity,” DFA said.
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By Liezelle Soriano
THE House of Representatives pushes for an additional budget for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for 2024 due to incessant cybersecurity attacks.
House Committee on Appropriations chairperson Elizaldy Co of Ako-Bicol party-list issued the statement after issues of hacking of the databases in government agencies such as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Department of Science and Technology, the Philippine National Police, Philippine Statistics Office and now the House of Representatives.
“We recognize the dire need of the DICT for resources to fight cybercrime and ransomware attacks. We will work with our colleagues in the Senate to look for more sources of funds for the DICT,” Co said.
“For the continuing ransomware attacks, we convey to the Department of Budget and Management the urgent need for additional funds for the DICT and for government agencies being attacked and vulnerable to cyberattack,” the lawmaker added.
The proposed budget of DICT for 2024 is P8.729 billion.
DICT was among the agencies whose confidential funds were removed.
Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy said that it will appeal to Congress to grant the P300 million confidential funds.
Earlier, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said that DICT does not need confidential funds, saying that the department can tap cybersecurity experts of the National Bureau of Investigation for surveillance needs.
“We should maintain the zero allocation and…they can avail of the expert services of agencies who have their own confidential and intelligence funds,” said Lagamn in a report.
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By Dang Samson Garcia
THE House of Representatives completed the plenary scrutiny and debates on the proposed budgets of the State Universities and Colleges and the Commission on Higher Education for fiscal year 2024, amounting to P100.88-billion and P30-billion, respectively.
House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairperson Rep. Janette Garin sponsored the CHED’s budget proposal, while Vice Chaipersons Rep. Francisco Matugas II, Raul Angelo Bongalon and Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy defended SUCs’ proposed appropriation.
Matugas said the SUCs’ P100.88-billion proposed budget is five percent less than the 2023 appropriation of P107.03-billion.
During interpellation, 4Ps Partylist Rep. JC Abalos said of the 117 SUCs in the country, 30 will receive lesser funding next year.
Matugas confirmed 30 SUCs will indeed get lower budgets in the range of 27 percent or a total amount of P11.45-billion.
“The budget of all our SUCs in the country was given by DBM, so iyung DBM po ang nag cut ng budgets nila. One of the reasons given by DBM is iyung mga Capital Outlay last year ay natapos na. Those that have been submitted for 2024 ay hindi po siya implementable kaagad. That’s why iyung decrease na malaki sa SUCs budget ay makikita po natin sa CO more than 60 percent, from P14-billion ginawa na lang P5 billion,” he explained.
Abalos also manifested there have been continuous cuts in the SUCs budget over the past two years.
“This can be attributed to the cost-cutting measures in place that are meant to save resources intended for education. However, budget cuts should be done with circumspect and due diligence since there is a widespread sentiment that most SUCs these days seem to be needing more funding to support their development just as the upgrading of facilities and additional support for the faculty and staff, as well as resources for research and development,” Abalos said.
Bongalon, meanwhile, noted 1.85 million students are currently enrolled in SUCs compared to 1.8 million in 2022.
Garin said total appropriation for CHED for 2024 is P30-billion and most of the funding totaling P29.7-billion or 95.8 percent will be new appropriation, the remaining 4.2 percent will come from automatic appropriation under the Higher Education Development Fund.
“Despite CHED’s relatively modest budget of P30-billion, it is crucial that we acknowledge the CHED’s vital role in shaping the future of our nation,” Garin said.
Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel said CHED can still expand the enrollees’ slots n SUCs.
“Tingin natin para mas maayos ang paggamit ng government funds to help our students, I think iyung mga pondo na napupunta doon sa malalaking private schools, mas efficient sana na magamit ito sa ating SUCs,” he said.
Garin explained there are situations where no SUCs or local universities and colleges are available in certain areas and that’s actually where the government has to come in because the availability of higher educational institutions is a problem.
By Dang Samson Garcia
THE House of Representatives approved on third and final reading the proposed law institutionalizing the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program.
With 251 affirmative votes, the lawmakers approved House Bill 9015 or a measure that would allow undergraduate professionals to get a bachelor’s degree.
“The ETEEAP refers to the alternative education program in the Philippines that allows working professionals who were either unable to finish their college education or were completely unable to advance into college for different reasons to earn a bachelor’s degree without going through the traditional schooling method,” House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said.
Romualdez said the program was introduced in 1996 through Executive Order 330, signed by the late President Fidel Ramos.
The bill aims to strengthen the system of academic equivalency and accreditation at the college level, including the validation of the knowledge and expertise derived by senior high school graduates, post-secondary technical-vocational graduates, and college undergraduate students from relevant work experiences and high-level, nonformal training in order to harness their full potentials.
HB 9015 defines the program as an equivalency and accreditation pathway for obtaining a college degree for senior high school graduates, post-secondary technical-vocational graduates, and college undergraduates who have become professionals with an aggregate of five or more years of work experience.
The knowledge, experiences, achievements, and skills obtained by the undergraduates through their jobs shall be used to earn school credits that will be deducted from the total number of units or credits that they are required to earn before they graduate.
“Institutionalization of ETEEAP gives this laudable policy permanence, meaning more Filipino professionals will benefit from it in the coming years,” Romualdez said.
To qualify for the ETEEAP, an applicant must be a Filipino citizen, at least 23 years of age, with at least five years work experience.
The Commission on Higher Education shall be the lead agency in the implementation of the provisions of the proposed law.
By Dang Samson Garcia
THE House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill 9015 or the proposed Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program Act.
In his sponsorship speech, Committee on Higher and Technical Education Chairperson and Baguio City Rep. Mark Go said that people with proven competency should have access to educational opportunities to realize their full potential and prepare for higher career paths.“
We all know that the acquisition of knowledge and skills does not only take place within the confines of the classroom,” he said.
The ETEEAP is an equivalency and accreditation pathway for obtaining a bachelor’s degree for high school graduates, postsecondary technical-vocational graduates, and college undergraduates with at least five years of professional experience.
Go said that institutionalizing the ETEEAP as an alternative learning program will allow workers, employees, professionals, and other undergraduate adults with acquired competencies to obtain a degree by recognizing their work experience, knowledge, abilities, and expertise as school credits.
HB 9015 was principally authored by TINGOG Party-list Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez and Jude Acidre.