House agreed on ‘pork’ word war truce — Zubiri

MANILA, Philippines — Some members of the House of Representatives have agreed on a “ceasefire” after they earlier demanded an apology from Sen. Panfilo Lacson who alleged that huge allocations had been initially allotted to congressmen in the 2020 national budget, Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Thursday.

Zubiri said he spoke with House Majority Floor Leader Martin Romualdez during the birthday party of Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

“We already agreed for a ceasefire because individual members of the Senate and individual members of the House that criticize one another does not represent the institution,” Zubiri told reporters in a chance interview.

READ: Lawmaker demands Lacson apologize to House for pork comments

“Ang akin dyan (My position here) is to be more circumspect. We have to work the budget, and I‘m hoping cooler heads will prevail and no further comments should be made on this particular issue,” he said.

Zubiri said he also asked Anak Kalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor to no longer comment on the matter. He said Defensor also agreed with his request.

When asked of the assurance of Lacson’s cooperation in ceasefire, Zubiri said: “I will try to make bulong (whisper) to Sen. Ping,” but said he respects the opinion of Lacson.

“We just don’t want to escalate it into a word war wherein we will hamper our business of the day which is basically right now passing the budget and at the same time passing tax measures being imposed by the DOF (Department of Finance),” said Zubiri. /muf, je

READ: Lacson stands firm, spurns solon’s call for apology over ‘pork’ claims