00:00 Meanwhile, the proposed 2024 spending amounts for the Justice Department and its affiliate agencies, the Judiciary, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and Commission on Higher Education took their turns in today's plenary debate carousel at the House.
00:16 PTV correspondent Mela Lasmoras is back with more.
00:22 House Speaker Martin Romualdez lauded President Ferdinand R. Marquez, Jr.'s certification of the proposed P5.768 trillion budget for 2024 as urgent.
00:33 He said, "With this move by the chief executive, they can and will certainly pass the General Appropriations Bill before the session break."
00:41 But despite the swift process, the House Speaker assured to uphold the principles of accountability, inclusivity, and efficiency throughout the deliberations.
00:52 During the resumption of the plenary debates today, one of the agencies that faced the scrutiny of lawmakers was the Department of Justice.
00:59 Gabriela Partylist Representative Arlene Brosas turned emotional when the issue about the two environmental activists who made a scene in a recent NTF-ELCAC media event was brought up.
01:11 "Don't do that, especially if we are witnesses to those things. In fact, I will interpolate that, Madam Speaker. I am here. I need to interpolate that time.
01:24 But I need to go there because when the NTF-ELCAC was press-called, the kids were saying, 'We were saddened.'"
01:34 The Armed Forces of the Philippines already denied the accusations of the activists.
01:40 And during the discussion, DOJ's budget sponsor, Appropriations Vice Chair Ruel Peter Gonzaga, also defended the Justice Department on the issue on impartiality on the matter.
01:50 "The prosecutors are not judges. In our law, judges should be impartial because they have to listen to different views.
02:02 If the DOJ Secretary sees that the prosecutor is doing something wrong, the DOJ will say that the prosecutor is doing something wrong."
02:16 Meanwhile, as one of the attached agencies of the DOJ, the issues on Bureau of Immigration were also brought up, like their strict measures on outbound passengers in airports.
02:26 "This is very important because everybody has the right to travel. If we are being harassed and hurt, maybe no one will travel."
02:38 "The Bureau of Immigration officer has discretion if he sees that the purpose of a Filipino's travel is doubtful,
02:48 and if there are fraudulent, falsified, tampered travel documents, or he will be a potential traffic person."
02:57 Apart from the DOJ, other agencies like the Department of Agrarian Reform, Commission on Higher Education, and the judiciary also took their turns in today's plenary deliberations.
03:08 Manolis Moras for the nation.
