Budgeting people's money the right way

It’s unfortunate that the widespread perception nowadays is that making insertions in the national budget is illegal — and that legislators who engage in it are crooks.

- FINDING ANSWERS FORMER SENATOR ATTY. JOEY D. LINA

Many believe that such public perception may have prompted Sen. Panfilo Lacson to resign as head of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee after some colleagues bristled when he said that “almost all” senators in the 19th Congress made insertions totaling at least P100 billion.

As a former senator, I can say that making a budget insertion is not unlawful; in fact, it is part of the mandate of a legislator. An insertion is, in itself, an amendment to a proposed law, the General Appropriations Act, and a legislator is duty bound to propose needed amendments.

I agree with what former Senate President Franklin Drilon said on ANC’s “Headstart” yesterday: “The congressman or senator whose intention it was to really steal money, they should be punished. But I will defend the right of every senator or congressman to amend through what is now termed as insertions.”

The former chair of the Senate finance committee also explained how the raging controversy in the 2025 national budget came about. “It is in the execution of these amendments, and the failure of those who are supposed to exact accountability, that has caused all these mess. Ihave never seen corruption of this magnitude in the budget.”

So how should the budget process go about to ensure proper handling of taxpayers’ money? At last Wednesday’s Kapihan sa Manila Prince Hotel, former Finance Secretary and current Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monetary Board member Ben Diokno offered a road-map for efficiency and transparency throughout the entire budget process, from formulation to execution.