MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano confirmed Wednesday that each congressional district would get P500 million worth of projects under the proposed P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020.
But the House leader was quick to deny that the allocation was “pork barrel” or the Priority Development Assistance Fund, which the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional in 2013.
“Ang sabi ni Speaker hindi pork ‘yun [The Speaker said it’s not pork]. It’s a regular budget of the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] kasi may mga [because we have] Build, Build, Build projects,” the Taguig-Pateros representative’s media officer said in a statement in response to queries.
It was Cayetano who confirmed in a radio interview that the proposed budget they passed and transmitted to the Senate last September 20 contained at least P500 million allocation per district.
Prior to this, he explained that the House leadership asked congressmen to set aside their individual amendments to the 2020 General Appropriations Bill, so the chamber could prioritize its P9.5 billion institutional realignments.
READ: House bares P9.5-billion realignments in 2020 budget
“Eh pinakiusapan namin ang mga congressman ngayon tutal lumaki na ng husto ang pondo bawat distrito naman may ‘build, build, build’ kahit mas maliit ‘yung iba, malaki ‘yung iba, malaki pa rin eh,” Cayetano said in an interview with radio dzMM Wednesday.
(Since the budget increased and every district has ‘build, build, build’ projects, we asked congressmen to set aside their individual amendments for now.)
“Ang pinakamaliit kapag pinagsama mo ah? DepEd, DPWH, Department of Agriculture lalabas almost P500 million per district ‘di ba? Dahil nga ang laki na ng budget eh, P4.1 trillion eh,” he added.
(The smallest allocation, if you combine the projects of the Department of Education, DPWH, Department of Agriculture, would turn out to be almost P500 million per district, right? Because the budget is P4.1 trillion.)
Cayetano further explained: “So that’s the reality, ang tinatanggal po natin ‘yung [we removed the] opportunity for corruption by lump sum pork barrel.”
In the same interview, the Speaker asked the Senate to conclude its deliberations by November so the spending bill could be passed on time by December.
READ: Cayetano to Senate: Finish 2020 budget bill by end of November
Earlier, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he found P20-billion worth of projects, which were “parked” in the proposed 2020 national budget. Cayetano said the executive departments should explain this, adding that they are open to discussing the issue during Congress’ bicameral conference committee deliberations on the expenditure plan. /jpv
READ: Not pork, but P20-B projects ‘parked’ in 2020 budget – Lacson