Senator Edgardo Angara yesterday said the act of Cabinet officials invoking Executive Order 464 to avoid attending budget hearings in the Senate will end up with the government having a reenacted budget this year, which he called "extremely undesirable."

A reenacted budget is bad for the country because it creates an opportunity for the president to juggle funds, and use them for partisan purposes, Angara said at a press conference at the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters office in Bacolod City yesterday.

If the government has a reenacted budget, Arroyo can "realign" savings, which is a polite word for juggling funds, he said.

"It will give the president billions and billions of pesos in discretionary funds no longer dedicated to specific projects. That is the evil in a reenacted budget," he added.

That is why the Senate wants to expedite the passage of the budget but the other House seems to be taking its time, he said.

The passage by the House of Representatives of a supplemental budget of P13.1 billion for the P1,000 additional allowance of government employees is an indication that it has no plan to rush the passage of the main budget, he said.

It looks like the government will have no new budget for the next six months, he said.

The delay in the passage of the new budget will mean we cannot hire 10,000 new teachers this year, implement a lot of new programs, or undertake the rehabilitation of airports throughout the country, Angara said. EO 464 prohibits officials of the executive branch from appearing before congressional hearings without the consent of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

On Wednesday, Palace executives invoked EO 464 during a hearing for the budgets of the Office of the Press Secretary and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said OPS and DILG officials did not attend to evade grilling by senators. He claimed that the budget hearings were being used to bring out issues against the President.

Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor has said that a new directive would be issued that would allow officials of the executive branch to attend budget hearings, only after the House of Representatives approves the budget measure.

"I hope that the Supreme Court says it is an unconstitutional act and will nullify the executive order. There is a more than 50-50 chance that the SC will see it as a gag on legislative inquiry and a gag on public information," Angara said.

"I think that the president was ill-advised by her lawyers (on ED 464). This is an unprecedented curtailment of the right of congress to seek information from the executive department," Angara said

The approval of the budget by Congress for the various departments of the government is based on performance and accountability, he said.

"EO 464 is a classic case of non-transparency," he stressed.

"When it was extended to the budget hearings, the more the muzzling became effective," he said.

Angara also said the Senate's decision to give the Presidential Commission on Good Government a P1 budget is more than it deserves.

The PCGG received a P1 budget after its Commissioner Camilo Sabio invoked Executive Order 1 in refusing to answer questions relating to a proposed P80 billion agreement with former ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco.

The claim of Sabio is incredible, he says the provisions of the PCGG exempts him from any inquiry by the judicial, executive and legislative branches of government, but he forgot to mention that the law he cited was passed when then President Corazon Aquino was lone ruler under the Freedom Constitution and under a revolutionary regime, Angara said.

The new Constitution enacted in 1987 gave the people the right to information, it imposed a duty of public accountability on every public official, Angara said.

Meanwhile, Angara said two things are propping up the Philippine economy today - the OFW remittances and agriculture - without these the Philippine economy would have collapsed.

That is why there is a need to create more jobs, train people and spend more for development in the countryside, he said.*CPG

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