Senate to delete ₱75-B ‘insertion’ in DPWH budget

Senator Panfilo Lacson expects a "bloody" bicameral conference committee meeting between members of the Senate and the House of Representatives over the latter's plan to delete the ₱75-billion "insertion" from the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) proposed 2019 budget and realign it to key government projects.

Lacson, on Tuesday, said members of the Senate have united to stand by the proposed deletion of the increase made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the DPWH's allocation for this year.

"Nagkasundo na rin kami na tatayuan namin as a body ang pagdelete at pag-realign (₱75 billion). Kung saan, dapat pag-usapan namin," Lacson said in a text message to reporters.

During their deliberation of the DPWH's ₱555-billion proposed budget on Monday afternoon, Lacson pushed the deletion of the ₱75 billion which the DBM added to the agency's allocation without its knowledge.

The DPWH initially requested for a P480-billion budget this year, based on cash-based budgeting system that the DBM wants implemented. The DBM, later, raised it to ₱555 billion under the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar told senators that he was only informed of the increase when he saw the NEP, but said that he respects Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno's authority over the budget.

Lacson, in raising his proposal, had said that the DPWH was "amenable" to the deletion of the ₱75 billion increment to its budget in the period of amendments.

On the other hand, Lacson expressed belief that the proposed deletion would not sit well with the House of Representatives, whose members, he said, would react violently.

"Magkakagulo sila sa HOR pag nawala 'yon. That's what the new leadership chopped and re-distributed among their allies since they suspected that the previous leadership was responsible for the additional ₱75 billion 'insertion' in the NEP," Lacson said, recalling the congressmen's discovery of the alleged "pork insertions" in the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which was blamed for the delay in its passage in Congress last year. (Vanne Elaine P.