Senate President Vicente Sotto at the Senate session hall. (File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines— Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III shot back at Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya on Monday as the latter unleashed fresh attacks following the signing of the 2019 budget into law.
Andaya hinted that the Senate’s alleged pork was still intact in the budget, despite the deletion of P95.3 billion as funding for infrastructure projects, including the P75 billion “unconstitutional” realignments made by the House of Representatives.
“My friends in the Senate are going to town claiming victory over the deletion of the House amendments. Does this mean that the Senate pork remains intact?” the congressman said.
“Could this be the reason for their celebratory mood? Hindi Biyernes Santo sa Senado ngayon kundi Pasko,” Andaya said.
Sotto retorted: “It’s the people’s victory, silly!”
“We do not need to pay attention to brickbats. It’s the people’s victory. The illegal realignments cannot escape the President’s scrutiny,” he added.
Asked about Andaya’s insinuation about the Senate’s alleged pork, Sotto said: “Hospital facilities enhancements, AFP modernization to name a few are not pork.”
In a Twitter post, Sen. Francis Escudero thanked President Rodrigo Duterte “for using his power to veto line items in the appropriations bill instead of vetoing the entire bill as earlier reported.”
The President had earlier threatened to veto the entire budget over alleged pork insertions by some lawmakers.
READ: Duterte threatens to veto entire 2019 national budget
/atm