SCRUTINY Sen. Panfilo Lacson discusses with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea the fiscal year 2019 national budget awaiting approval by the Senate.—INQUIRER PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — “Let us not preempt the President.”
That was the short response of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to the statement of Sen. Panfilo Lacson urging President Rodrigo Duterte to use his veto power to remove the alleged “pork” inserted by lawmakers in the P3.757 national budget for 2019.
In a Twitter post, Lacson said the President should use his “line-item veto power” over the proposed 2019 budget by removing “pork inserted by lawmakers” who are “incorrigibly insatiable” and “beyond redemption.”
READ: Lacson urges Duterte to veto pork ‘insertions’ in 2019 budget
Lacson earlier bared alleged “pork” insertions in the 2019 national budget, which remained pending in the congressional bicameral conference committee (bicam).
He disclosed that one or more senators made P3.3-billion “insertions” for one province alone, which is part of the P23 billion that some senators inserted into the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) alone.
He also alleged that the National Expenditure Program (NEP), which was prepared by the executive branch, had P100 million worth of projects embedded in it for every member of the House.
The allocation, he said, consisted of P70 million in “hard” projects, which usually refer to infrastructure projects, and P30 million in “soft” projects, which usually cover financial assistance programs.
He also said that Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo then added P60 million to the allocation for her colleagues, Lacson said.
The boost consisted of P50 million for hard and P10 million for soft projects, he said.
On Monday, Sen. Loren Legarda said the bicam agreed to approve and ratify the 2019 national budget on Friday.
The government has been operating on a reenacted budget after Congress failed to pass the 2019 budget in last year. /je