2020 budget aligned with Duterte’s priorities – Ungab

President Duterte will only veto inserted provisions of the proposed 2020 General Appropriations Act if these are not in line with the priorities his administration have set or if these will not benefit the poor.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, made this observation as he stressed that the Chief Executive could “very well identify pork allotments” in the P4.1-trillion national budget that was recently passed by Congress.

Ungab said he knows the President’s frame of mind when dealing with budget issues, having worked with him during Duterte’s term as mayor of Davao City.

Ungab said he was also the city council’s head of the committee on appropriations when Duterte was mayor.

“He has been consistently reminding us to ‘prepare a budget for the poor because the rich can take care of themselves.’ Thus, I know that in the end, the President’s judgment will be based on whether a particular item in the budget will truly benefit our poor kababayans,” he explained.

Ungab said he is confident that the President will not find any pork barrel allocation in the 2020 national budget, contrary to the claim of Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Lacson has vowed to tell Duterte his findings that the Lower House contingent in the bicameral conference committee on the budget measure has inserted P95 billion to finance infrastructure projects for selected congressmen.

Should the President agree with Lacson’s claim, there is a strong likelihood that the P95-billion budgetary items will be vetoed.

“It is within the President’s discretion to either veto those provisions he finds not aligned with his priority programs directly or set conditions on the implementation of these programs or projects,” said Ungab.

But Ungab is quite confident that Duterte will not find any pork barrel provision in the budget.

Ungab and Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante were the only members of the Lower House who aired their views about Lacson’s accusations.

The other day, Ungab assailed Lacson for airing publicly his accusation of the existence of pork barrel allocation in next year’s national budget.

He stressed that changes in the proposed GAB were all “aligned with the President’s priorities.”

“The 2020 budget is pork free,” the Davao City lawmaker declared.

According to him, members and officials of the Lower House are fully aware of what pork barrel funds are.

“In compliance with the express instructions of the President, the 2020 GAB contains no pork, no last-minute 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 porkridden 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.

According to Ungab the 2020 GAB that the bicameral conference committee approved “is a powerful tool that will help deliver President Duterte’s goal of a safe and comfortable life for all.”