Sen. Franklin Drilon yesterday came to the defense of Budget Sec. Florencio Abad who was accused of violating the national budget for not releasing the of so-called pork barrel of some lawmakers.
“There is no basis. On the merits, it has absolutely no basis,” the senator said, referring to the allegations made by Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay against the budget chief, a political ally of Drilon.
Abad came under fire from Magsaysay last week when she confronted him at a budget briefing at the House of Representatives for allegedly withholding for two consecutive years her priority development assistance fund (PDAF).
The congresswoman failed to secure any explanation from Abad for withholding the estimated P140 million PDAF (P70 million yearly) allocated to her district as the Cabinet official was merely quoted telling her “the buck stops with me.”
Magsaysay is reportedly mulling suing Abad for violation of the General Appropriations Act (GAA), saying that if Abad cannot invoke any legal provision, he could be violating the law.
“In our system of government, we (Congress) appropriate. The President executes. That’s the system of checks and balances.  The budget is openly an authorization to release funds and to spend public funds. I repeat, the GAA is merely an authorization, whether or not the money is spent is a matter that is addressed to the President’s discretion. And that is our system,” said Drilon, chair of the Senate finance committee.
“I don’t think there is any basis for the claim that if it is appropriated it should be automatically released, that is the privilege only of the Constitutional bodies like the Supreme Court where the Constitution says you enjoy fiscal autonomy. And that has been interpreted to mean that the funds appropriated are automatically released. No such fiscal autonomy is in favor of any member of Congress.
“The SC, once you appropriated it some amount, you cannot prevent the release of the budget. Same goes for Comelec (the Commission on Elections).  Congressmen and senators do not enjoy fiscal autonomy. Under our system of our checks and balance, it’s the President who releases (the budget),” he explained.
Earlier, Drilon said the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) will brief the senators on Monday on the National Expenditure Programs, in particular the macro economic targets, revenue generation and expenditure programs, and the Aquino administration’s priority spending in 2013.
After the two-day briefing, the finance sub-committees will hold hearings on the proposed budgets of various national government departments as well as of government-owned and -controlled corporations starting Wednesday, August 8, with the Comelec being the first to be grilled.
The hearings by the sub-committees were expected to last until end of October, creating ample time for Senate floor deliberations by November, said Drilon.
He is also confident the Congress will be able to sustain the momentum it has gained for the last two years in passing the budget before year ends.