Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III believes it was wrong to allow congressional staff to make adjustments and corrections to any bills finalized by the bicameral conference committee.

This was his response when he was asked during ABS-CBN's Harapan if there was anything he found wrong in the passage of the 2025 budget as alleged by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab and former President Rodrigo Duterte.

"Hindi ko nakita kung paano proseso nila. Meron silang sinasabi, nabalitaan ko lang na meron daw mga blanko. At ang sagot ng isang House of Representatives member ng Committee on Appropriations nila, ang sinabi ay sinabi rin nila sa secretariat na ayusin. Ang point ko, nung sinabi kong hindi tama yun, mali yun," he said.

"That is never done on any bill or any law that is going to be passed. Once you pass a law on second or third reading, for that matter, lalo na kung third reading, or  ika nga'y nagpunta na ng bicam at bumalik na, at ito'y niratify nyo na, hindi pwedeng galawin niya ng kahit sino, kahit period, kahit comma, kahit a mere wrong placement of that can have a different meaning for any sentence." 

Sotto explained that any correction must go through the same tedious process it underwent the first time. 

"And our practice before, especially when I was Senate President, is kahit na period yan, or kahit column yan, or semicolon yan, hindi ko pa gagawa sa Secretariat yun. You bring it back to plenary and you pass it on third reading again. Kailangan, the Congress, Congress, the Senate, cannot delegate powers to the Secretariat. Ever. Hindi ginagawa yun," he said.

"Even during the time of Senate President Salonga, Senator Maceda, Senator Ople, in my time, Senator Enrile we never allowed that. Hindi pa pwede yun. Kailangan kayo gumawa. Kailangan yung legislator ang gumawa nung dapat. Kung editorial amendment na yan, still you have to do it. Do not delegate it. That's my point. Kung yun ang pinag-uusapan sa budget and that is their problem, may problema talaga tayo."  

BID FOR ANOTTHER TERM

Sotto, meanwhile, defended his bid for another term in the Senate, saying he still has more to contribute even after he listed his accomplishments in his past terms.  

 Sotto lost to Vice President Sara Duterte in the 2022 elections.

 "Well, marami naman pwede pagpilian yung mga kababayan natin. Pero yung sa akin kasi, kung hindi man kami naging matagumpay ni Sen. Lacson, sapagkat meron kami mga gustong i-contribute noon, ito ang pagkakataon na ma-i-contribute namin uli ito. Yung aming experience, yung aming  ika nga expertise, not only in parliamentary rules and procedures, kung hindi sa paggagawa ng batas, ang tingin ko marami pa rin kaming maikocontribute," Sotto said.

"Ako'y marami pang magagawa na doon sana, kung 2022 pinalad tayo, ay mapapalaganap natin. Hindi nangyari yun at ika nga'y nagkaroon ng ibang takbo  ika nga ng history. So itong pagkakataon na ito, tingin ko, itong mga nakita kong in the last two years, meron pang ika nga'y magandang pwede pang gawin sa legislatura. I don't have much to say about the Executive Department or the Judiciary, but as far as the legislature is concerned, I think there is much that we can contribute, and I can contribute myself."

 Sotto explained he brought to the Senate his learnings from his experience as Quezon City Vice Mayor in his 1st term.

 "Umpisahan lang muna natin sa panahon na ako'y naging Vice Mayor. Tumuntung ako sa Senado and I contributed what I learned in the four years that I was in the local government. Kaya nagkaroon na tayo ng family courts dahil kinreate ko po ang mga family courts sa Pilipinas. At saka yung calamity fund na dati hindi naiisip na ito'y issue ng local governments but yun ay naisampa natin. At yung mga cities, dati apat lang ang city sa Metro Manila eh ginawa ko po ang labing-anim. Lahat ng Makati, Mandaluyong yung lahat yan ay ginawa akong city sapagkat galing ako sa local government noon at alam ko ang pangangailangan ng internal revenue allotment nila ng mga panahon na yun," Sotto said. 

He added he worked on laws on dangerous drugs and medicines in his following term 

"Pagdating naman nung natigil ako na 2004 hanggang 2010, pagbalik ko ng 2010, yun naman ang improvement naman at saka doon namin pinasa yung Dangerous Drugs Act, yung Mental Health Law, at saka itong Medical Free, Medical Scholarship para sa mga gustong kumuha ng medicine proper," Sotto said. 

He gave a preview of what he will work on if he gets another term.

 "May mga naiiwan kasi kami ngayon. May naiiwan ako yung right sizing at saka yung takbo ng budget reform. Hindi lang yung dami ng batas na naipasa namin o naipasa ko ang mahalaga. Ang mahalaga ay nababantayan namin ang budget. Nababantayan namin ang gobyerno. We always exercise oversight over our laws, over the laws that we have authored, principally authored, or principally sponsored. So yun ho ang mga mahalagang nakikita ko ngayon," the former senator said.

"Like for example, yung rightsizing. Matagal ko nang pinipilit po na kailangan mag-rightsize tayo. Bakit? Ang budget ngayon, P6.3 trillion ang budget nila ngayon. Pero 65% of that goes to personal services. Ay hindi alam ng mga kababayan natin iyan. Ay dati pinipigil nga namin yan at gusto namin maging right size ng gobyerno, magkaroon ng early retirement program. But we were not able to do that in 2022 because they voted some others, some other candidates. But this time, if we get the chance, and as I said, God permitting, we will push for that. "