On Thursday, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano apologized to Senator Vicente Sotto III for appearing to blame the Senate concerning the possible delay of the 2021 national budget.
In a Facebook live video, Cayetano said he called the Senate President to apologize for his remark wherein he said the Senate and not Congress should be blamed if there is a delay on the budget approval.
“Sabi ko nga kay Senator Sotto, pasensya ka na kung ganyan ang dating. I apologize kung ganyan ang dating. Pero kung titignan mo yung buong context, hindi ganun ang context,” he said.
“Yung context is kung magkakaroon ng reenactment, it won’t be on the part of the House because we made sure that one day lang ang pinag-uusapan,” he added.
Sotto did not welcome the House Speaker’s statement, saying Cayetano’s remark is “unacceptable.”
“Do not be misled. The HOR has delayed the budget for a whole month. No one can ever blame the Senate for this delay. NEVER!” he said.
Cayetano further clarified what he meant in his remark.
Cayetano apologizes to Sotto
“Ang sinabi ko doon, ang delay is one day. Sinabi ko doon na na-delay nang one month yung submission sa amin, at hindi rin kasalanan ng DBM o executive kasi nagka-COVID. So maraming assumptions ang binago,” he said.
“So imbes na sisihin namin ang executive na delayed one month, delayed din kami, binilisan namin. And that’s why we made it in time,” he added.
Cayetano also believes that the Senate is also doing their best to pass the budget, much like the House of Representatives.
“I’m sure that the Senate will work hard and I extended kay Senator Sotto not only the apologies but yung pakiusap that we make this work,” he said.
Sotto earlier dared the Congress to adopt the senate’s version of the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
“Adopt nila ‘yung version namin. Bibilis ang bicam,” Sotto answered when asked about Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano’s willingness to speed up the bicameral process.
The Senate will continue its committee budget deliberations even during the October break. Senators expect the debates could be taken up in the plenary by November 16.