By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

DEMOCRATIC senators walked out of the budget session yesterday afternoon in protest against the Republican leadership’s last-minute decision to invite representatives from the business sector to testify on the 2007 revised budget bill before the committee of the whole.
With only three Republican senators left in the session hall and others occasionally walking in and out, business leaders expressed their opposition to Bill 74, which they said was being unfairly considered without public participation.
Guam Chamber of Commerce chairman Steve Ruder, Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association executive director Mary Torres, and John Limtiaco, manager of a local trucking business, said the business sector is reluctant to pay the proposed fee increases until the government of Guam proves its ability to manage public funds with prudence.
Only Speaker Mark Forbes, R-Sinajana, Sen. Frank Blas Jr., R-Yona, and Sen. James Espaldon, R-Tamuning, stayed in the session hall. The Democrats sat and watched the proceedings from the adjacent public hearing room, which they said was the proper venue to solicit public input.
At one point, acting Minority Leader Rory Respicio, D-Agana Heights, walked back into the session hall to tell the three Republicans that they could not continue the proceedings due to a lack of quorum.
Espaldon, who was presiding over the discussion, opted to continue the proceedings, saying “this is a matter of getting public information.”
The Democrats staged the walkout protest when Vice Speaker Eddie Calvo, R-Maite, chairman of the committee of the whole, invited the business representatives to testify on the budget bill just when the Legislature was in the final stages of the budget process.
“We always wanted to hear what the public has to say about this bill but you cannot allow them to speak at this point of the legislative process,” Respicio said.
The Agana Heights senator noted that if the Legislature solicits public input, the invitation should not be exclusive to just one sector of the community.
“It’s not fair that only certain people who have access to Senator Calvo get access to the forum. That’s what the Democrats are opposed to. You cannot open the forum only to a select few,” Respicio said.
Sen. Judith Guthertz, D-Mangilao, said it wasn’t proper to wait until the last minute to get the public to participate in the process. “And it’s not fair to invite only one group and leave out the rest in the community,” she said.
Sen. Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, cited a house rule that seeks to prevent any interest group from lobbying for or against the bill while the Legislature is in session.
Saying that the budget process must be done the “right way,” Pangelinan moved to refer Bill 74 back to the committee level and hold a separate public hearing.
The Democrats were outvoted. The Republicans rejected Pangelinan’s motion, saying that having members of the community speak before the committee of whole had precedents.
“I have no problem with inviting people to testify here now,” Forbes said.
Sen. Jesse Lujan, R-Tamuning, said he shared the Democrats’ sentiments. “Holding a public hearing should have been done before we started discussing this bill in the Legislature. We can’t do this after the fact,” he said.
“I am not convinced that Bill 74 is a good bill. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, specifically the methodology that the administration used in coming up with the figures for the new fees,” Lujan added.
When the senators went back into the session hall, Pangelinan repeated his motion for the committee to call a public hearing, but again he was outvoted.
In a telephone interview after calling for a recess, Calvo said he agreed with the Democrats that a public hearing is the right venue to solicit input from the community.
However, he added, calling a public hearing would only delay the budget process.
“I can understand their concerns. But these are strange times with unique circumstances. We are in an emergency situation,” Calvo said. “We need to expedite the revised budget. We have to move quickly.”
The session resumes at 10 a.m. today. Calvo said the forum is open to anyone who wants to testify on Bill 74.
Meanwhile, the business leaders who testified yesterday asked the administration and the Legislature to justify the proposed fee increases and explain where the new revenues are going.
“We don’t oppose these fees as long as we are told what they are for and as long as we get assurance that they will not disappear into the general fund,” Ruder said.
“We cannot take the simple statement that the government needs to raise fees because the general fund is short,” he added.
Ruder also asked the Legislature to reconsider the amendment to the Dave Santos Act which would reduce the threshold income for gross receipt tax exemption from $50,000 to $40,000.
Forbes, however, defended the amendment, saying the GRT exemption for businesses making an annual income of $50,000 was not meant to be a permanent privilege.
“It was meant to be an incubator to help small entrepreneurs while they are starting up their business,” Forbes said.
Some business entities, Forbes said, take advantage of the Dave Santos Act by creating subsidiary entities so they can continue enjoying the tax break.
Torres and Limtiaco, meanwhile, said it’s not fair of the government to continue taxing the business sector and the community without implementing cost-saving measures.
They also said that while the government continues imposing higher levies on the business sector, the public suffers the consequences because the additional costs of business operations are being passed on to consumers.