Licuanan Appropriations August 4 2014
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Transcript of Licuanan Appropriations August 4 2014
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PARTIAL AND PROVISIONAL TRANSCRIPT
AUDIO RECORDING OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HEARING
BatasangPambansaSouth Wing Annex Building
4 August 2014,
DR. LICUANAN: Mr. Chair, I just should respond, at this point, to some of the issues,because I am equally confused and very frustrated, because we really thought we were
trying our best to, to do what was right. Let us let us look back historically. We had a
system. The PDAF system was there . It harmonized with CHED, we, we,cooperated
with the is this on? We cooperated with the Congressmen who were given their PDAF
allotment, and we helped them distribute the the scholarshipgrants and, in a way that
was pretty much satisfactory. It may not have been a perfect system but it was there. It
was a system weve worked with for many years. And then
CONGRESSMAN RUFUS RODRIGUEZ: May I object to that because that is not true. That
is not the situation during the PDAF. The PDAF did not pass the CHED.The PDAF went
directly to the state universities so you have no, you have no totally totally no
intervention. Well in my case, it has... I think most of all or all of us because when wegive our when we give our menu ... to the committee of Cecile here, it was very clear,
the SARO, you cannot ask the money we gave it to the state univ ersities. There was no
problem even when the CHED, because there was no more PDAF then you can go to
the CHED. But I would tell you. That we submitted to the Speaker last year. So this is not
a post intervention. Before before the, the budget was approved, we already, the
Speaker already gave you already our allocation. Is this not correct? Because we gave
our lists, we gave all lists last year on how on how to allocate the 14 million. You see.
So you know let me continue that I just tell you there is mostly no intervention byCHEDwhen PDAF was alive because our SARO, the SARO given goes directly to the
schools, to the public state universities and colleges, exactly the situation. So now the
only landmark declaration is now, and we do not have to question that precisely
because there is no more PDAF, it is to the CHED. And then we submitted allocations so
therefore there is no such thing as post because this is submitted by the Speakers office
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and the Committee,the Appropriations, given to you before December. And so very
clear nasabiko that is why in the other, in the other departments, madam chairperson.
In the other departments, na-download na.Ang DSWD na-download nasa regional office
saka central office, angaming, angaming DOH nasa hospital na.Nandyannalahat,
walatayongproblemadyan. Now, bakitsainyohindi pa na-downloadditosaaming schools which were submitted to you by Sherry long time ago?
CONGRESSMAN ABU: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr.Chairman, parliamentary inquiry.
CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Yes, what is the inquiry all about?
CONGRESSMAN ABU: Anopobayungmga rulings natinpagdatingsaganitongklase ngexecutive session? Dahilpinalabasnatinang media kaninadahil executive session
ito.Dahilbakamamaya may makalampastayoditonasasabihinnatinnahindinamankaiga-
igayasapandinig ng ibanatingmgakasama, ay anobaangatingruling dito?
Bakamamayapaglabasdiyan,mayroongmagpa-interview diyan, nayun,pini-pressure
nanaman ng mga congressman ang CHED. Ginigisananamanang CHED
dahilhindimasunodsila. I think Mr. Chairman we should clarify to ask the ruling.
CHAIRMAN UNGAB: This is an oversight committee hearing. So, it is inherent in the
legislative powers of Congress that we can act as an oversight body especially for funds
that are also that are basicallypublic funds, and again I made it clear early that the
legislative intent is very clear is that scholarships must go on
CONGRESSMAN ABU: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, the confidentiality of executive
session?
CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Well of course, executive session. The rule isconfidential
talagapagsinabinating confidential.
CONGRESSMAN ABU: What if a member, what if a member of the Committee on
Appropriations or the Oversight Committee or any of, any of his staff after na, after nghearing eh lumabas at magpa-interview at dini-vulgekung anoangnangyayaridito, what
would be the sanctions?
CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Well, pakiusapannalangnatin, since this is an executive session,ditona lang.
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[Laughter.]
CONGRESSMAN ABU:Takot ho akodito.
CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Congressman Teves,please.
CONGRESSMAN TEVES: When I submittedactually theres no problem in Region 7 as
of now. Our Regional Director has been very cooperativeRegion 7 so far cooperative
naman. May confusion kamingkonti because..of cou rse when we try to limit our 14
million, our submissions to the 14 million, I know for a fact that other members of
Region 7 cannot even occupy half of that, like Siquijor for example or Congressman
Camineros district for example so I submitted more and I do not know what the
rule should be on how we will be using our, our money as a whole in the Region, Mr.
Chairman. However, if the case should be, we will be restricted to the 14 million then I
would respectfully request that on our next budget for 2015, this should be rectified so
that I can accommodate the others. Secondly, of the old scholars that were hit by the
PDAF, in which I remember correctly CongresswomanAlmario was talking about the
HEDFthatwe ll be using to pay for the old scholars, the previous scholars when the PDAF
was not yet declared illegal I would like to make sure that it that will be followed.
Otherwise, again, Mr. Chairman, I would request that for the 2015 budget, it should be
rectified;our 2015 budget should make sure that this would be covered because I am
sure thatsome of them will be graduating already. They will not be able to get their
diplomas if theyre not gonna get paid, Mr. Chairman. Thats all. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN UNGAB:Yes, well take that into consideration, your honor. So afterCongressman Tevesis, Chairman Licuanan.
DR. LICUANAN:Yes,sir. Yes, I was, I was, in the middle of a thought and
thenCongressman Rufus made a correction. Actually I agree with you for the most part,
that most of the PDAFwas really direct. But we did handle some of it. Some.But we had
a system also of scholarships in CHED, a number of different types of scholars hips.
Okay, so what weresome of historical events that took place unexpected by, I think,Your Honors as well as us. We were taken quite a bit by surprise. The first was the TRO
on the PDAF and essentially, you know, CHED is the bad guy here. But you have to give
us the credit. When that happened, we immediately wrote all the SUCs and said, please
take in the PDAF scholars, if they were there from the first sem, keep them on. Ill make
it good to you,its my, it will be on , Ill find the money, Ill pay you back. My expectation
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was that the Supreme Court would reconsider for health as well as scholarships. But we
know that did not happen. So, even worse than a TRO, it was declared illegal. We
consulted Your Honors because that is very frightening. Here we are, the PDAF is illegal,
and in a way you were working out a system where it would be realigned and given to
us. Now, what are we supposed to do? We understood it to mean - and I know I do nt have the refinements of whether it s oversight or whatever - but the fact is my
understanding is that - you used the term earlier. Illegal post- intervention. So in other
words, you make the law, you dont implement it. That was also pointed out, not in
those terms, but we had a previous encounter with the Commission on Audit. They had
a very serious audit observation memo to us, report to us, that essentially the way we
werehandlingsome of thePDAFthat came to us as well as the Congressional scholarships
that we give out was different from our usualscholarships which followed the same set
of CHED guidelines. So that was even before PDAF became an issue. We said, alright. Inwhich case, we will make sure that the same guidelines prevail for all the scholarships
that we handle, including the Congressional ones. So, having already committed
ourselves to that, when this happened, when the PDAF was illegal, then you presented,
and you realigned it to various agencies. Wehad to do the right thing. We did not want
to do anything illegal, we did not want to get into trouble with COA, we did not want to
go against very, very vociferous public opinion against PDAF. So our solution was at that
time, very clear. In my mind I said, the Congressman will nominate. They can
recommend. Of course, that is their right. They do that all the time. These are their
constituents. They know, they know the situation on the ground. I already had my script
for the media when they say would, O, may PDAF pa rinano? And then you are, you
are what is the term for you are a collaborator , youre doing the same thing. At any
rate, I had to protect the agency, I had to protect the Aquino government. I had to make
sure we played by the rules. And that was all settled. You would recommend. You would
tell us exactly who your candidates were and we would apply our guidelines and so COA
will be will have no complaints,and neither would Congressman Tinio or anyone else
who wants to to squeal on you guys. [Laughter.]
So that s what we thought we were doing. But the system I guess takes time. Essentially
what was happening I think on the ground is not everyone got .The other thing that
Congresswoman Almario mentioned was that we were advertising and we were
publicizing which in a sense is true, in the sense that thats our duty. We have a lot of
grants, we have to make this public. But in our adjustment already, internally, we said
priority would be given to the recommended, thelistahan of the congressmen. Eh di
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Soso, I just beg the group to try and come up with a practical solution. I tell you. I do
not have an attitude problem here. I am really trying. And Im a reasonably competent
person. Im a reasonable manager. How am I failing here? When I am also dealing and
accepting the political reality that this is PDAF, that we are just changing for this
transition year. You have all said, Next year, dederechona kami. We are goingAnoyan, when we are negotiating, they say, Next year, hindinasa CHED yan.
Aysalamat, sabiko. Salamat.Talaga.Because it is really so much. It i s a headache. Id like
to find a solution. Please, believe me.
[Audio recording proceeds for another one hour and five minutes.]
Transcript prepared by office of Rep. Antonio [email protected]