00:00But the House is not one person, and it is certainly not the Speaker alone.
00:05It is a collegial body made up of hundreds of members, multiple committees, vice chairs, and institutional processes.
00:13In fact, there are around 85 committees, each with its own jurisdiction, leadership, and members.
00:20No Speaker can personally control every committee, much less direct the actions of other branches or government agencies.
00:28And in the Appropriations Committee itself, there are already more than 100 members, with many vice chairs.
00:36And Representative Toby Tianko, who has been very vocal and upfront on this issue over the past months,
00:43was himself a vice chair of the Appropriations Committee in the previous Congress.
00:48So I have to ask, if there were real concerns about irregularities in the budget process,
00:54why were these not formally raised during the deliberations, or even during the plenary?
01:00The budget deliberation does not stop in the House.
01:03The Senate also conducts its own deliberations, reviews its own version, and plays its own role
01:08in shaping the final budget, and it is not a bystander.
01:12It is an active constitutional participant in this process.
01:17After that, the House and the Senate reconciled their versions in the bicameral conference committee.
01:22Only then is the final bill transmitted to the President for approval or veto.
01:28Records would show that I did not participate in those meetings,
01:32and I was not privy to what exactly transpired during the deliberations.
01:36However, two people were instrumental in making those budget decisions,
01:43Chisa Escudero and Zaldico.
01:45And once the budget becomes law,
01:48the work of implementing flood control projects, or any project for that matter,
01:52is solely within the purview of the executive, including the DPWH,
01:57certainly not by legislators.
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