Ahead of the start of the budget season, Akbayan Partylist Rep. Chel Diokno on Monday urged the House of Representatives to pass the joint resolution seeking to open bicameral conference committee deliberations to the public for transparency.
Several lawmakers, led by Diokno and fellow Akbayan Partylist Representatives Perci Cendana and Dadah Ismula, along with Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao, Albay First District Rep. Cielo Krisel Lagman, and Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima, filed Joint Resolution No. 2 to institutionalize public access to bicam proceedings.
“What better time to pass this resolution than now, as Congress prepares to deliberate on the national budget, the most important piece of legislation each year,” Diokno stressed.
“Kailangang malinaw sa taumbayan kung saan napupunta ang ibinabayad nilang buwis hanggang sa kahuli-hulihang sentimo at kung paano tayo nagpapasya kung saan ito gagamitin,” he added.
Diokno urged the House to follow the Senate’s lead after the Upper Chamber unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4, which aims to establish transparency and accountability mechanisms in the national budget process.
The House, for its part, earlier adopted House Resolution No. 94, which allows accredited third-party observers to participate in “public deliberations of the Committee on Appropriations and its sub-committees in the crafting of the national budget.”
“We owe it to the Filipino people who entrusted us with their hard-earned taxes to provide them with a transparent view of how budget decisions are made in the bicameral stage to ensure there are no last-minute insertions and changes,” Diokno said.
If approved, the resolution will open all bicameral conference committee meetings to the public, whether in person or through digital livestreaming.
In addition, the bicameral conference committee will be mandated to produce a matrix comparing the differences between the House of Representatives’ and the Senate’s versions of a bill and how these differences were resolved. This matrix will be made available to the public.
The bicameral conference committee will also be required to immediately release to the public comprehensive minutes of its meetings.
