Speaker Lord Allan Velasco
House of Representatives
Batasan Pambansa
16 October 2020
My esteemed colleagues, Honorable Members of the 18th Congress,
let me at the onset express my gratitude for responding to the call of
President Rodrigo Duterte to hold the Special Session for the purpose of
ensuring the timely passage of the National Budget for Fiscal Year 2021.
Mabigat ang ating pinagdaanan bago tayo nakarating dito.
Magkahalong pagsisikap at pananampalataya, tiwala at suporta ng bawat isa ang
nagdala sa atin sa hantungang ito.
I commend you, my fellow representatives, that despite
differences in viewpoints, we have proven to the Filipino people that we can
actually work together and get things done.
And that as a body, we recognize and uphold a common goal, which is the
welfare of our country and people—and that we can set aside personal
differences and be bound by shared and noble goals.
During this Special Session, we have reopened the plenary
debates over the National Budget to further scrutinize the agency budgets and
to thresh out issues relevant to each department and concerned sector. Within the four-day Special Session, we
tackled the budget of major departments such as the Departments of Education
(DepED), Health (DOH), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), National Defense
(DND), Transportation (DOTr), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the Interior and Local Government
(DILG). We have provided every
representative the opportunity to raise issues, clarify any misconceptions, and
recommend how we can make the Budget truly responsive to our current and
pressing needs and conditions.
Annually, we go through this process of deliberating and
passing the National Budget. But this
expenditure program is no ordinary one. It is an extraordinary budget for
extraordinary times. There is so much at stake here: our health, the economy,
jobs and livelihood, food security, the education of our children, and much
more. And we thank President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for taking a principled,
decisive leadership in calling this special session so that the budget would
get the complete attention that it deserves.
Mr. President, Mayor Sir, we present to you a budget for
lives and livelihood. ITO ANG TUNAY NA BUDGET NG BAYAN.
We have to make hard choices. We work on limited resources when our needs
appear to be limitless. Next year's
budget of P4.5 trillion requires us to carefully strike a balance in providing
the fiscal stimulus for economic recovery while containing the spread and
mitigating the effects of COVID-19.
This pandemic has revealed to us the gaps and weaknesses in
the way we do things in the public sector.
It has highlighted the urgency of implementing long-postponed reforms
such as the National ID System necessary for targeting public services, and the
IT-support necessary to make government services fast and efficient through
electronic and digital means. We realize
that we need to appropriate funds to make our processes in delivering public
services more effective and efficient.
I congratulate all House Members for their active
involvement in the timely passage on Third and Final Reading of the General
Appropriations Bill. But I assure you
and the President that we will not have a re-enacted budget by January of next
year. We will transmit without delay the
approved Bill to the Senate and give our counterparts sufficient time to
likewise examine the national budget.
Our task over the budget does not end with its passage. We will have to make sure that the programs
are properly implemented, that public funds as appropriated do not go to waste.
At this juncture let me thank each and every one of you who
has toiled long and hard for the successful passage of our budget – all the
hardworking members of our very able Secretariat who ensured that Congress
continued to function seamlessly despite the challenges that we successfully
hurdled this week; our congressional staff who are behind us 24/7; the Members
and staff of the Committee on
Appropriations who know all the intricacies of every budget that this
House has passed, and their Chair Eric Yap and all our Vice Chairs; our
deputies and leaders in the Majority and the Minority who have steered the
Committee on Rules and the proceedings here in plenary, headed by our Majority
Leader Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Benny Abante, and the captain of
the night shift, Rimpy “PUYAT” Bondoc na totoo namang puyat na puyat. And of
course, our Deputy Speakers for presiding over four historical days and nights
of this special session. Thank you to all of you.
I am proud and humbled by what I have experienced and
witnessed this very eventful week. I may not be an extraordinary congressman,
but I am a humble recipient of your overwhelming mandate and support.
I am proud of this General Appropriations Bill that we have
passed on third reading today, which is truly reflective and responsive to the
needs of our people. We have proven that playing by the rules, without
resorting to shortcuts, and keeping our time-honored traditions and values, we
can produce better and superior outputs.
I AM HUMBLED AND HEARTENED BY THE REALIZATION THAT NO ONE OR
ANY GROUP HAS THE MONOPOLY OF KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCE. EVERY MEMBER OF THIS
INSTITUTION HAS SOMETHING TO CONTRIBUTE AND DESERVES TO BE HEARD. THAT WE CAN
DO BETTER BY LISTENING TO ONE ANOTHER AND WORKING TOGETHER, FOR OUR PEOPLE
DESERVE NOTHING LESS.
Together, we can rise up again and build a better future for
all Filipinos.
God bless us all at maraming, maraming Salamat sa inyong
lahat. LAV ko kayo.
