Over the years, lawmakers have mastered the art of bastardizing the budget, the most important piece of legislation that Congress passes every year. Based on how they mangled the 2023 to 2025 budgets, it would appear that the present crop of legislators has outdone all past congresses in terms of the enormity of the amount and degree of shamelessness in abusing their power of the purse.
The first time I heard of the term budget insertions was about 30 years ago, during the Ramos administration. It referred to funding provisions for projects or programs identified by congressmen in the General Appropriations Bill. The insertions were over and above what was then called the Countrywide Development Fund.
Sa isang pagdinig ng House appropriations committee noong Setyembre 11, hiniling ni Ombudsman Samuel Martires sa Kongreso na tanggalin ang utos sa Commission on Audit na ilathala ang Audit Observation Memorandum nito dahil lumilikha ito ng mga pahiwatig na nasuhulan ang kanyang opisina para ibasura ang kaso samantalang ang kakulangan sa audit ay hindi pagsumite lamang ng mga resibo.
After calling on Congress to remove from the General Appropriations Act a provision requiring the Commission on Audit to publish Audit Observation Memorandum, Ombudsman Samuel Martires changed his tune two days later, saying that what he actually meant was the removal of the requirement to publish COA’s Annual Audit Reports.
Ano ang mga confidential at intelligence funds at para saan ito magagamit?
What are confidential and intelligence funds? For what can these be used?