(UPDATE) Another senator admits to insertions in 2008 budget
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:30:00 09/18/2008
Filed Under: Graft & Corruption, State Budget & Taxes, Congress, Politics
MANILA, Philippines -- It seems Senate President Manuel Villar was not the only one who made insertions in the 2008 national budget after another senator admitted Thursday that she, too, had proposed amendments to raise the allocation of the country’s family health program, among others.
Senator Pia Cayetano’s additional funding of P315 million she had sought for the family health program, including family planning, was much bigger than the controversial P200 million for the construction of the C-5 road extension project in Parañaque City that had been linked to Villar.
From P1.199 billion, Cayetano asked the bicameral conference committee to raise the budget for that item to P1.514 billion.
She said she also asked the committee to raise the budget for “formulation of policy standards, and plans for hospital and other health facilities” by P100 million or from P137 million to P237 million.
Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on health and demography, said she also requested an allocation of P1.011 billion and P586 million for the implementation of the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers and the Philippines Nurses Act but both had been rejected.
She said she was reissuing the list of amendments that she had submitted to the committee “in the spirit of transparency on the 2008 budget.”
Cayetano’s admission came days after Senator Panfilo Lacson exposed the alleged double entry in the 2008 budget and accused Villar of being responsible for the insertion.
It also came after her brother, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, had taken the floor to defend Villar, his partymate in the Nacionalista Party. Villar has announced that he is running for president in 2010.
Aside from Cayetano, opposition Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas, also admitted over the weekend proposing some amendments in this year's budget.
During Monday's session, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile disclosed that only six of 23 senators made no amendment or insertion in the 2008 budget.
In a radio interview this Thursday, Villar asked why he was being singled out when there were other senators who had introduced some amendments in the budget.
"Hindi lamang sa akin ang alegasyon [The allegation is not limited to me]. Ang imbestigasyon ng Senado ay sa buong budget [The Senate investigation is on the whole budget]. Kasi alam mo naman na napakaraming pagbabago sa budget na involved ang karamihan sa senador [You know that there are a lot of changes in the budget that involve most of the senators]," he said.
"Ako ay naghihinanakit bakit sa akin lamang nakatingin samantalang napakarami naman [I am pained as to why I am being singled out while there are many others]," he lamented.
The controversy has prompted Senator Miriam Defensor-Santaigo to propose several amendments in the budget process.
Santiago proposed a more transparent proceeding in the bicameral conference committee, noting that it is usually done “under the most secretive environment.”
“There are no minutes of proceedings. Only the co-chairpersons and the members of the bicameral committee can now identify, from memory, who initiated a particular change and how the committee addressed it,” she said in her speech on the floor Wednesday.
Santiago said the mandate of the bicameral committee should also be limited to reconciling disagreeing provisions of the House of Representatives and the Senate and it should be prohibited from introducing new budget programs, projects and activities during the process of budget reconciliation.
And like legislators’ pork barrel, the senator said congressional insertions, which are usually made in the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways, should be limited to a uniform amount for senators and congressmen.
“And just like the pork barrel, the practice of congressional insertions should be made available to all legislators wishing to avail of it,” she said.
|
