Senators leaning on Duterte to veto ‘pork’ insertions; House denies claim
Senators will rely anew on the veto power of President Duterte in the wake of alleged pork barrel insertions made at the last minute of the House of Representatives in the proposed 2020 national budget.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Filipinos are lucky to have Rodrigo Roa Duterte as their President who does not fear being impeached by the House of Representatives after he vetoed early this year lawmakers’ 195 billion in pork barrel funds in the 2019 national budget.
And President Duterte would again be placed in the same situation by the Senate leadership when the proposed budget is submitted to him for signing.
The Senate leadership, led by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto, Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; and Lacson decided to burn the midnight oil to dissect the proposed 2020 national budget and identify the supposed
pork barrel that the House of Representatives supposedly inserted at the last minute in the bicameral budget committee report.
The list will then be submitted to President Duterte who may veto the billions of pesos worth of pork barrel projects or not.
Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, strongly objected to Lacson’s accusations, saying that if there were changes in the GAB, these were all “aligned with the President’s priorities.” He added that such changes were also based on the recommendations of the Cabinet departments and other government agencies.
So far, it is only Ungab who has issued a statement in defense of the Lower House against Lacson’s accusations.
“The 2020 budget is pork free,” stated Ungab.
The senior administration lawmaker explained that the Lower House is fully cognizant of the Supreme Court ruling that declared pork barrel funds as “unconstitutional”. He said they acknowledge the SC’s definition of what constitutes pork.
Many House members knew “pork barrel funds” as post enactment allocations in the national budget.
“In compliance with the express instructions of the President, the 2020 GAB contains no pork, no lastminute insertions and no parked funds,” said Ungab, a close political ally of President Duterte.
The senior administration lawmaker assured the public that the budget process “was undertaken with utmost transparency.”
“Attempts to label the 2020 budget pork-ridden by constantly redefining ‘pork’ is unfair and misleading,” Ungab said, apparently directing this comment to Lacson.
“It represents the clear 2020 vision of the President and his economic strategy anchored on increased spending in infrastructure and human capital development,” he stressed.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives ratified the bicameral committee report last Wednesday although Lacson belatedly learned of the last minute insertion of the pork barrel contained in the Universal Series Bus (USB) in the same committee report.
“We are lucky to have President Duterte who has the political will. I haven’t seen a Philippine President before him that has vetoed a very huge amount… 195 billion. Others would have feared congressmen who have the power to impeach him. Imagine, he vetoed their pork barrel projects. As I have said earlier, I congratulate and salute him. He is the only President who vetoed their pork barrel appropriations,” he said.
“This President is different. That is why I have high hopes that when we – Lacson and Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III – submit the lawmakers’ pork barrel appropriations, he (President Duterte) will veto them. Just like what he did in the 2019 budget,” he added.
Expressing his sentiment on the pesky pork barrel problem, Lacson said in his Twitter account: “We burn midnight oils to study the national budget from the National Expenditure
Program (NEP) all the way to the ratification of the bicameral report.”
“For that reason alone, we cannot just sit down and leave the fate of our hard-earned tax money to abuse and greed,” he stressed.
“It is a long, lonely crusade. It is difficult to measure the degree of success we have achieved for the past 18 years. I am not even sure if we are winning at all,” he added.
In so far as Lacson is concerned, public works or infrastructure projects should first be identified and agreed upon in the local government councils (LGCs) and regional development councils (RDCs) and later submitted to government department or agencies.
What was unfortunate, according to Lacson, was that congressmen wanted their own projects to be funded over the other projects.
“There’s a big disconnect between the needs and priorities of LGUs and the national budget. So localities with high poverty index do not progress. They will remain as 6th class municipalities,” he said.
“Our debt continues to increase. Where do our money go? Have you seen barangays progress? You go back to the rural areas after 20 years. I have talked to those who have come to Metro Manila or other countries. Upon their arrival, they do not see any development or progress. This is sad, this is not a joke,” Lacson added.
Lacson earlier said that the minimum kickback that lawmakers receive or demand was 25 percent of the cost of the project.
Other hands from different government offices or infrastructure implementing agencies are also known to demand or receive a part of the project cost.
No wonder, taxes are again used for the early repair or rehabilitation of the substandard pork barrelfunded project, he noted.