Malacañang assured the public on Thursday that the cash-based 3.757 trillion national budget for 2019 is “pork-free.”
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement after Sen. Panfilo Lacson claimed that hundreds of billions were hidden in the 2019 national budget.
“I leave it to Senator Lacson because he is a legislator. He knows what he talks about. My stint in Congress was too short to actually know what he is talking about but he has had three terms in Congress, he knows better,” Roque said in an ambush interview in malacanang.
He assured Filipinos that the President “does not condone pork barrel,” which the Supreme Court has previously declared unconstitutional.
“The President is unrelenting in his campaign against graft and corruption and he does not condone pork barrel,” he said.
“Yes, we guarantee you it is pork-free,” he said. /vvp