‘No pork’ in 2021 budget — Velasco

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Lord Allan Velasco assured Monday there is “no pork” in the P4.5 trillion proposed national budget for 2021 even as some lawmakers continued to question various allocations following its approval.

Velasco made the remark as lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc questioned anew certain allocations in the national budget that, they said, can be considered as pork.

“Let me assure you that there is no pork in the budget,” Velasco said in an interview of ABS-CBN News.

READ: 2021 budget not free of pork – Makabayan bloc

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro on Saturday said P16.4 billion for barangay development projects under the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict remained in the budget and that the item was “not clearly defined,” making it “essentially pork.”

In the same briefing, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas claimed that the P38-billion right-of-way fund allocated for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was “vulnerable to corruption and arbitrary spending.”

On October 16, the House created a small committee to receive and resolve individual amendments to the proposed national budget. Members of the House are ordered to submit their proposed individual amendments to the committee not later than October 19, Monday.

“The small committee would only do institutional amendments, mainly departments and agencies asking for more budget,” Velasco said.

“That is their job. After that, the budget will be forwarded and transmitted to the Senate and then after that there is also still the bicam,” he added.

The House has approved on final reading the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.

House appropriations committee chairperson Eric Yap said the Senate will receive a soft copy of the House-approved proposed 2021 budget by October 28, as requested by some senators.

JE