FORMER CONGRESSMAN SALCEDA DENIES INSERTING 2024 BUDGET PROVISION ON GOCC CASH SWEEP

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By: Nel Adtoon
Former Albay 2nd District Congressman Joey Sarte Salceda has issued a statement clarifying that he was not responsible for inserting a special provision in the 2024 National Budget allowing the government to sweep cash from Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), contradicting a claim by Ret. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. Salceda emphasized that he could not have made such an insertion because he was not a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the “Small Committee,” or the Bicameral Committee during the entire 19th Congress. He added that Carpio’s reference to a bill he supposedly introduced for the 2024 budget is factually incorrect.
 
In his posted statement in facebook, Salceda explained that the bill in question – House Bill No. 9513 – was filed for the 2023 budget, not 2024, and sought to sweep idle GOCC funds to finance unprogrammed allocations for Public Health Emergency Allowance and Health Facilities Support Fund (each around P52 billion). “The executive agencies and the House leadership reasoned to me that we needed new source of funds to finance the massive COVID-19 pandemic borrowings, much of which was falling due in 2023,” he said. The bill was approved by the House but did not become law, and Salceda noted that he never re-filed it or introduced any similar measure for the 2024 budget.
 
Salceda added that the idea of sweeping GOCC funds originated from an earlier pandemic-era Bayanihan bill that also failed to pass into law. He clarified that if budget committees copied elements of his 2023 bill for the 2024 budget, that was entirely at their discretion – a common practice among congressional members who often draw from other legislators’ proposals. His original bill also left the definition of “excess” funds and which GOCCs should remit to the Executive Branch, and did not amend the charters of agencies like PhilHealth, meaning those with legal restrictions could not be forced to transfer funds.
 
Salceda’s statement aims to set the record straight on his involvement in the GOCC cash sweep provision, emphasizing that his only role was in a 2023 bill that never became law. He noted that the letter will be shared with the media to ensure the clarification reaches the public.

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