Malacanang expressed hope on Friday Congress will restore the executive-prepared proposed budget for the Commission on Human Rights and the two other agencies.

In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan said the move of the House of Representatives to slash the proposed budget of the CHR, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and the Energy Regulatory Commission to P1,000 was just an initial stage of the budget process.

He said the proposed budget would still pass the Senate and the bicameral conference committee.

"The reduction of the budget to 1,000 (pesos) is an exercise of the check-and-balance power of the Legislative branch. And just to put things in a perspective, the reduction of the 1,000 is only at the earlier stages of our budget process," he said.

Asked if the Palace is hopeful that later on Congress would restore the original proposed budget of the three agencies, Ablan said, "We’re very hopeful that the budget we submitted to Congress would be approved by Congress...everything inside it."

The House's move, particularly in cutting the proppsed budget of the CHR, drew criticisms from some quarters.

The CHR, a constitutional body, has been critical on the government's bloody war on illegal drugs.

Ablan said this was not the first time that Congress tried to allocate small budget for an agency.

He recalled that Congress threatened to significantly reduce the budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process then headed by Secretary Teresita Deles.

"If you recall, several years ago, I think it was 2010. There was a proposal to reduce the budget of OPAPP from whatever they proposed to one peso. But eventually, Secretary Deles back then got the budget for OPAPP," he said.

"So we feel again the reduction of the budgets of the three agencies to P1,000 is Congress demanding from these agencies some form of accountability and to justify their budgets," he added.

Malacanang has proposed P623-million budget for CHR, P1.1 billion for NCIP, and P365 million for ERC. Celerina Monte/DMS