MANILA - Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday reprimanded Housing Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario for allegedly coming to a Senate budget hearing unprepared to answer queries from lawmakers.

Drilon was first irked after Del Rosario asked one of his directors to present the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development's (DHSUD) proposed 2021 budget instead of doing it himself.

"I am quite disappointed to be candid," Drilon told Del Rosario, a retired military official.

"Being a new department, I would have expected you to give us a briefing and present your budget rather than asking your director to present it to us," he said.

Drilon proceeded to ask the Housing chief about the agency's budget for informal settlers along the Pasig River, but paused after hearing a staff continuously feeding answers to Del Rosario.

"I must be candid with you. I am disappointed that you cannot answer these basic questions. It's your director who keeps on answering," the Senate Minority Leader said.

"It seems to me you do not have at your fingertips the grasp of the housing situation," he said.

Del Rosario's performance during the Senate budget deliberations may discourage lawmakers from backing the agency's bid for an additional P12.55 billion for its "meager' P3.87-billion 2021 budget, Drilon said.

"I am supportive of your department but what you have shown so far does not encourage me to push for your budget augmentation," he said.

Drilon ended his questioning after a few minutes, saying he "could not get answers" from the Housing Secretary.

"I give up. I will just ask questions during interpellations. I cannot get answers [from DHSUD]... It will take us the whole day," he said.

At the end of the hearing, Del Rosario said, “I would just like to apologize for not doing the briefing earlier.”

The DHSUD was created in 2019 to "act as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement, and urban development."

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Del Rosario, the first Secretary of the DHSUD, has yet to get the approval of the Commission on Appointments (CA) as several members of the panel questioned his competence, especially during the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City. The official was appointed head of the Task Force Bangon Marawi.

The CA has suspended voting on the approval or rejection of Del Rosario's appointment earlier this month as the panel develops a system allowing its members to vote electronically.

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Video courtesy of the Senate of the Philippines