enate President
Manny Villar has raised the possibility of Congress overriding a presidential
veto on "insertions" introduced by legislators in the enrolled budget measure
for 2008.
Villar is dreaming. In the first place, an override needs a
two-thirds vote in both chambers, starting from the House where budget bill
originated. In the second place, Malacañang can always withhold release of
funding for any item it deems objectionable, and there’s nothing Villar or
Speaker Jose de Venecia (assuming he rides out the latest attempt to unseat him)
can do about it.
At the moment, we have no idea what the specific insertions
are. We don’t have the patience to do a line by line comparison of the original
Palace budget proposal and the bicameral version ratified early this week by
both chambers. But we will know soon enough if and when the Gloria Arroyo
exercises her line-item veto on the budget.
And that’s a big if. Gloria Arroyo has nothing to gain in
exercising her veto save for earning a few "pogi" points. She has a lot to lose,
including the support of allies who are already looking forward to their cuts
from their favored contractors.
No question about it. Pork barrel insertions are a source of
corruption. It would, however, be the height of hypocrisy for Gloria to mount
the pulpit and denounce corruption of members of Congress. Everybody would be
rolling in the aisles in laughter on hearing the pot calling the kettle black.
The whole budget - exempting debt payments, salaries of
government employees, and appropriations for Congress, the courts and
constitutional offices – is a virtual pork barrel of the President by virtue of
her power to transfer funds.
Projects with budgetary funding can also be selectively
implemented. No president in recent memory has been more abusive in exercising
this discretion to reward friends and punish enemies.
This is the real root of this skirmishing between the
legislative and the executive over the 2008 budget. Bargaining between Congress
and Malacañang was supposed to take place during the six-month long
congressional deliberations on the budget. Each party is supposed to keep his
side of the agreement. Everybody happy and all that.
So when the Palace starts talking about a veto and
congressional leaders threaten an override, that only means one thing: the
thieves have not come to a satisfactory agreement over the division of the loot.
Appeals to principles of sound fiscal management are just a smokescreen.
