Page 12 - SEPTEMBER 2017 B ISSUE

12 www.hello-philippines.com IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS September 2017 / Fortnightly – No. 18 • UK & Europe Edition

AFTER P1-K OUTLAY FROM HOUSE

SENATE FINANCE PFAONREL NOCKISP
P1.1-B BUDGET
DESPITE having several concerns that the NCIP has been in existence tagging of Lumad schools, and issues of
for 20 years yet the agency does not ancestral domain.
on the performance of the agency, have a comprehensive profile on the IP
communities. “Nagiging bulag, pipi at bingi ang
the Senate finance committee on NCIP sa daing ng mga katutubo. Sa
“Poverty is the enemy but we cannot halip, naging kasangkapan pa ito
Thursday night approved the proposed attack poverty if we do not measure it,” upang linlangin at lalong labagin ang
Gatchalian said. karapatan ng mga katutubo,” he said.
P1.1-billion budget for the National
“We have to come up with a strategy. House Appropriations Committee
Commission on Indigenous Peoples It cannot be business as usual every chair Karlo Nograles said the funding
day. You cannot just come to the office, for NCIP, CHR, and ERC may be used
(NCIP) in full. you have to do something. We have to for the free tuition in state universities
reform your program to address poverty and colleges (SUCs).
The NCIP is one of the three agencies in the communities,” he added.
The CHR’s proposed budget is P678
getting only P1,000 under the 2018 At the House of Representatives, million, while the ERC should have
NCIP was allocated a budget of P365 million.
General Appropriations Bill approved P1,000 for 2018 for allegedly failing
to protect the rights of members of the The separate versions of the House
by the House of Representatives national minority. of Representatives and the Senate
on the GAB will still be scrutinized in
Tuesday night. The other two are the Among the incidents that Zarate said the bicameral conference committee
the NCIP failed to address are the killing to reconcile conflicting provisions.
Commission on Human Rights (CHR) of three Lumad leaders in Surigao n Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez, NB, GMA News
del Sur in 2015, the continuous red-
and the Energy Regulatory Commission | Published September 14, 2017 8:09 PM

(ERC).

Leonor Oralde-Quintayo, NICP

chair, was emotional when the finance

committee chaired by Senator Loren Spoiled yan. Alam nila na di ko sila and housing.

Legarda approved the motion made by matitiis,” Legarda, a known advocate of Zubiri also found the NCIP’s efforts

Senators Miguel Zubiri and Sherwin IP rights, said. lacking in addressing poverty in IP

Gatchalian to refer the budget to the During the budget hearing, Legarda communities.

Senate plenary. also lectured the NCIP for its supposed “You have to convince us that you’re

“Thank you for the support. I’m failure to promote indigenous culture a relevant commission, na hindi kayo

just emotional for what transpired but and knowledge. junket, hindi kayo lakbay aral, hindi

thank you for giving justice to us today,” “I do not see the drive and passion kayo nannweldo lang at you have plans

Quintayo told the committee, saying to preserve the culture of the IPs in the and programs for our IP brothers and

an estimated 14 million IPs all over the NCIP. I see it in other culture agencies,” sisters na hindi lang lip service,” he said.

country will benefit from their agency’s she said. Quintayo admitted that based on

projects. Legarda said the NCIP should extend studies, poverty incidence is still high in

“Alam naman nila na pagdating more assistance for IPs to cover their IP communities.

sa’kin, re-restore ko yung budget nila. basice needs, like education, health, Gatchalian, for his part, pointed out

CauHgmR entmbauydgeat,skNogDraBleMs saytos

THE Commission on Human Rights ‘yan. So I believe the budget version the next year, 2018, then any Complainant to file revised verification
(CHR) may ask the Department of ng House will incorporate what was augmentation will have, they’ll have page for impeach complaint vs. Bautista
Budget and Management (DBM) for decided on the floor,” he said. to ask from the DBM,” he said. LAWYER Ferdinand Topacio will Topacio said they may still be able to
additional budget if they need to,
House Appropriations Committee chair “Kung kailangan nila ng The DBM’s ability to augment the submit a revised verification page for the change their verification page as the House
Karlo Nograles said on Thursday. augmentation, kailangan humingi sila budget of an agency, however, does
ng augmentation from DBM,” he added. not usurp the “power of the purse” of impeachment complaint he filed against panel has yet to vote to determine its
In a phone interview with the Congress.
reporters, Nograles said the House of Nograles explained that the CHR can Commission on Elections chairman Andres sufficiency in form and substance.
Representatives may not be inclined to ask for augmentation from the DBM if, “Yes, they (DBM) can do that.
change its decision to cut the budget of for instance, the bill signed into law by There are ways for them to augment Bautista. “There are remedies available, kasi
the CHR for 2018 from P678 million to President Rodrigo Duterte is the one kapag kulang yung for the operations
P1,000. which the House approved on second of an office,” he said. This, in order for his complaint not to hindi pa naman pinagbobotohan. Kapag
reading, where the agency was only
“AsfarastheHouseofRepresentatives given P1,000 budget. “I think they can use contingency suffer the same fate of the impeachment pinagbotohan na ‘yan, wala na ‘yan,” he
is concerned, pinagbotohan na po funds to be able to augment
“If that is what will operate in operations and government. Basta case the Volunteers Against Crime and said.
ang importante, there’s an item
in the government that needs Corruption (VACC) and the Vanguard The lawyer, however, said they will not
augmentation. so what was passed
by Congress is an item. I think that’s of the Philippine Constitution, Inc. change any of the contents of the complaint
the reason we have contingency
funds in case there’s a need to filed against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes aside from the verification page.
supplement what has been approved
by Congress,” he said. Sereno. “Ang aayusin naman namin ay hindi

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez also At a press conference in Quezon City on attachments e; it’s just wordings to comply
said on Thursday that the House will
stand firm in its decision to grant the Thursday, Topacio, who is connected with with the wordings of the rules,” Topacio
CHR with only a P1,000 budget for
next year. the VACC, said they may have to correct said.

He, however, said the House the wordings on the verification page of his “We will verify the same thing based on
and Senate could still meet halfway
during the bicameral consideration of complaint against Bautista. the nomenclature that the committee wants
the agency’s budget. n RSJ, GMA News |
Topacio’s complaint had used the same which is not a substantial amendment but a
Published September 14, 2017 6:09 PM
structure of the verification page of the formal assessment,” he added.

VACC’s complaint against Sereno, which the The House justice committee is set to

House justice committee found insufficient hear the impeachment complaint against

in form for using the wrong verification Bautista on Tuesday.

page format. Topacio said they will file the revised

“It is probably an error on verification page before the hearing on

nomenclature, syntax or wording, pero the Tuesday. n Erwin Colcol, KG, GMA News |

authentic documents are all there,” he said. Published September 14, 2017 1:30 PM