Tagbilaran, Bohol—President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday expressed confidence that the P1.8-trillion national budget for 2012 will pass even without the participation of the House minority which has threatened to boycott the budget deliberations.
Mr. Aquino denied opposition allegations that Malacañang had withheld the release of priority development funds, or pork barrel, to opposition House members.
No pork, no passage House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman accused the executive branch of discriminating against opposition members in the release of the pork barrel funds, hence the minority’s threat to boycott the budget deliberations.
“Why would we doubt that it [the budget] will pass? It will stand on its own merits,” Mr. Aquino said.
He denied that funds for opposition congressional districts were being withheld.
“Our instruction is that no citizen of the republic would be deprived of their rightful share. So I believe [Budget] Secretary [Florencio] Abad can specifically answer those [who are] complaining. If funds were given to a certain province or to a certain town, it could be pointed out,” Mr. Aquino said.
“I don’t think there were any who got zero. I understand all were given their rightful share under the national budget,” he added.
The President was in Bohol yesterday to attend a briefing on a proposed international airport for Panglao island, a meeting with the Central Visayas’ regional peace and order council and the inauguration of the new municipal hall of Trinidad town.
In Malacañang, Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang on Tuesday assured the constituents of House opposition members that they would get the services and resources allotted to them despite a boycott of the budget hearings by their representatives.
In line with priorities</strong.
Explaining why the opposition representatives’ funds have not been released yet, he said the government just wanted to make sure that the projects being proposed by the opposition congressmen were “in line with the President’s priorities.”
If these projects are not aligned with national priorities, “we may not necessarily want to approve it or we may need time to evaluate it,” he said.
On Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas’ statement that he would “beg” the President to release the pork barrel funds for his constituents, Carandang claimed that based on records of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the allocation for Cagas’ district “has been increasing under the Aquino administration.”
He said it increased by more than P60 million in 2012 to P255.5 million, from P194.6 million in 2011.
In 2011, the allocation for Cagas’ district rose by more than P46 million to P194.6 million, from P148 million in 2010, he said.
“And yet many representatives last year, even from within the coalition, were getting less than P50 million,” Carandang said in a text message. With Christine Avendaño