By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE ongoing budget talks, now in their eighth week, continued to polarize Republicans and Democrats who have conflicting visions of where the process is going.
As the legislative session turns into a de facto public hearing, the budget process is losing its direction, according to Sen. Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada.
“The whole process has come to a point where there are no meaningful discussions among senators anymore. This process has no direction. I don’t see any roadmap anymore,” Pangelinan said.
“The Republican leadership has not been able to communicate a vision of what will happen. They only give us a doom-and-gloom picture of what may happen,” he added.
Speaker Mark Forbes, R-Sinajana, however, said “everyone knows where this process is going—it’s a balancing act where, at the end, you get a zero balance in the budget.”
Senators have been struggling to balance the 2007 budget by assessing the impact of fee increases, the 2.5 percent funding cuts and the 5 percent deappropriations enforced on agencies that were sanctioned for failure to meet the financial reporting requirements.
Vice Speaker Eddie Calvo, R-Maite, said Bill 74 has evolved from its original form as submitted by the administration.
“We are definitely moving. This is a very uncommon budget that we are dealing with in an uncommon fashion. The process is not going the normal way because Bill 74 is not a normal bill. It was sent to us by the administration halfway through the fiscal year,” Calvo said.
More members of the community showed up at the session hall to testify on the 2007 revised budget bill yesterday since Calvo extended the invitation to the legislative forum on Tuesday.
The tension between the two parties flared up Tuesday afternoon when Democrats walked out of the budget session, protesting Calvo’s decision to bring business representatives into the session hall to testify on Bill 74.
Minority senators insist that a public hearing is the right venue to solicit public input.
“This Legislature ignores every rule in the book,” Pangelinan said.
Sen. David Shimizu, D-Inarajan, noted that the session may have turned into a default public hearing, but it came a little too late. “They invited the public just when the process is almost over. It’s like sending invitations to a wedding on the wedding day itself. People will come when the party is over,” he said.
Shimizu also noted that only business leaders and employers have been coming to testify before the committee of the whole. “The employees and ordinary citizens are the ones who will be more affected by these fee increases,” he added.
Pangelinan frowned on the Republicans’ allegedly erratic attendance at the session. “It’s an insult for us Democrats who sit through the whole process, day in and day out, while we watch some Republican senators leave and walk back into the session only when they need to exercise the power of the majority to protect a special interest,” he alleged.
“They say they have other business to attend to. When the Legislature is in session, there’s nothing more important than the issues currently being discussed,” Pangelinan added.
Forbes sought to pacify the Democrats, saying that partisan bickering is “the last thing that we need in the Legislature at this particular time.”
“I know everybody is stressed. But we have to keep our cool and we should avoid making accusations against each other. Let’s not get personal. Let’s keep our eye on the target. We have to get there,” Forbes said.
“All senators, regardless of their partisanship, are welcome to participate. In fact, many of the amendments made to the bill came from minority senators,” the speaker said.
Sen. Rory Respicio, D-Agana Heights, meanwhile, defended his amendment to prohibit furlough as a means to assuage the impact of the 5 percent deappropriations on delinquent agencies.
The amendment has been criticized by business leaders who insist that downsizing the bureaucracy would help cut the cost of government operations.
“I don’t agree that government employees must be used as sacrificial lambs,” Respicio said, adding that the option of laying people off would take its toll on public funds.
“We will have more people with no disposable income. When they lose their jobs, they will apply for social services such as welfare and public assistance,” Respicio said.
Administration officials return to the session hall today to present new numbers based on revised fees and explain the impact of the 5 percent deappropriations.