(INQUIRER) MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada issued a stern warning Tuesday night to resource persons who answer “disrespectfully” during budget hearings, warning that these agencies could get their budget deferred due to misbehavior.
Estrada raised this warning at the Senate’s marathon plenary debates on the proposed 2025 funding of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
“It has come to my attention that there is a head of agency who answers disrespectfully towards — in answering questions of senators, and I would like to warn all those heads of the agencies concerned to be respectful in answering questions coming from the senators,” said Estrada.
“We can defer your budget, we’ve done that before and we can do that again. And this warning goes to all heads of agencies concerned,” he emphasized.
Prior to Estrada’s remarks, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino issued a reminder to Philhealth president and chief executive officer (CEO) Emmanuel Ledesma Jr.
“May I remind our resource person especially since we have suspended the rules, to temper the responses with an iota of humility and perhaps answer correctly the questions being propounded by a member of this chamber so that we can have a semblance of a sincere discussions here, engagement, with a member of this chamber,” said Tolentino.