MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday asked if the increase in the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2021 would be used for the election campaign.
“The net increase of P28.3B on top of juggled funds within the DPWH budget could only indicate massive realignments and insertions introduced by the legislators. It begs the question: is this an election campaign budget?” he said in a text message.
“Even the multi-purpose buildings that I had repeatedly questioned in the committee hearings all the way to plenary even gained more funds instead of being reduced in spite of obvious waste of funds due to the failure of the DPWH to implement,” he pointed out.
During the plenary session on Wednesday night where the Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed 2021 national budget, Lacson questioned the P28.3 billion increase in the budget of the DPWH, citing the agency’s low utilization of funds in the previous years.
He also lamented why the DPWH budget was raised even after he earlier recommended the deletion of P63 billion from the agency’s budget so that it could be realigned for the National Broadband Program (NBP) and for efforts to aid typhoon victims.
Lacson expressed dissent on the bicam report during the ratification because of the increase in the budget of the DPWH, and the decrease of funds for the NBP as compared to the Senate’s version of the spending bill.
“More so, I cannot vote on a measure as important as the national budget without having read the details of the said bicameral conference report,” he added.
The House of Representatives also ratified the bicam report on the 2021 budget on Wednesday. With both houses of Congress approving the report, the proposed budget for next year now only needs the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte for it to be enacted.