The tradition of ‘parliamentary courtesy,’ which allows the representatives of the people who are either friendly or beholden to the country’s highest officials to shield the latter from contentious and difficult questions from lawmakers during budget hearings, is a practice that at the very least, needs serious review by the members of the supposedly independent branch of government whose priority is supposed to protect the interests of the nation and the Filipino people.
After the House committee on appropriations quickly ended the deliberations on the proposed 2024 budget for the Office of the President (OP), invoking the tradition, legislators have called for its end, including ACT Teachers Party list Representative France Castro, Gabriela Party list Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Party list Rep. Raoul Manuel.
“While we were able to manifest here in the budget briefing of OP, unlike in the more notorious act of the committee on appropriations with the OVP (Office of the Vice President), we are still not satisfied because people want answers to issues we raised,” Castro recently told reporters.
“This is the only time they can actually answer questions from the people. That’s why we must stop this parliamentary courtesy,” she explained.
For her part, Brosas said the lawmakers’ questions to high government officials in the executive branch are not even that hard. For example, she said they only want to know the details about the letter supposedly provided by the OP to the OVP on the transfer of confidential funds in 2022.
On August 30, the lawmakers also objected to the speed at which members of the House concluded the hearing on the proposed budget for OVP, claiming the committee on appropriations was shielding Vice President Sara Duterte from questions.
In budget deliberations last 2022, the same set of lawmakers questioned why the OVP’s P2.3 billion budget for 2023 was instantly approved at the committee level.
They believe this practice of “servility” to the OP and OVP must end, which is quite reasonable considering that the legislative and executive branches of government are supposed to be co-equal branches of government, and if the best interests of the Filipino people are to be served, one shouldn’t bow to the other for the sake of courtesy, especially when it comes to crucial issues like the national budget and when potential loopholes for corruption like confidential and intelligence funds are involved.*
