Former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson joins Vice President Jejomar Binay on stage during a proclamation rally in Quezon province on Friday. PHOTO BY MARC JAYSON CAYABYAB, INQUIRER.net
UNISAN, Quezon—Former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Friday joined Vice President Jejomar Binay on stage at a proclamation rally here to present his platform of governance in empowering the local government units (LGUs).
Lacson, who is vying to go back to the Senate, was invited at the proclamation rally of local bets under the party of comebacking Quezon representative Danny Suarez, an ally of Binay.
In front of the guest of honor Binay on stage, Lacson presented his advocacy “BRAVE” or “Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment” by realigning the government’s savings to augment the budget of the LGUs at all levels.
In his presentation, Lacson said the government’s unused and continuing appropriation increased from P358.64 billion in 2010 to P703.58 billion in 2015, which he said the president could have realigned to the budget of all the barangays (villages), cities, and municipalities in the country.
READ: Ping Lacson targets budget ‘fat’
He said the government’s unspent appropriations amount to an average of P332 billion from 2002 to 2015.
Lacson said the share of the LGUs in the 2014 General Appropriations Act in terms of appropriation, internal revenue allotment (IRA) and bottom-up budgeting was only at P381.1 billion or 16.8 percent of the P2.26 trillion national budget.
Meanwhile, the share of the barangays in the 2014 budget was at P68.2 billion or 3.31 percent of the 2014 budget.
Lacson said under his initiative, the share of the LGUs in 2014 would have increased to 28.5 percent to 38.2 percent of the 2014 national budget.
Lacson said the government kept on borrowing although it has a lot of savings.
“I can’t explain for the life of me why we keep on borrowing and yet we keep on saving. Kung hindi naman ganun kalaki ang ating ginagastos, edi i-download na natin sa mga LGUs para magkaroon sila ng pagkakataon na umunlad (If we won’t spend a large amount, it would be better if we download it to our LGUs so they will have an opportunity to progress) on their own,” Lacson said.
Lacson proposed the following to implement his budget reform agenda for barangays—authorize the president to realign savings as mandated in the Constitution, pass a supplemental budget, propose amendments to the General Appropriations Act and even file a bill to institutionalize the implementation of BRAVE.
After his speech, Lacson shook hands and chatted with Binay before walking off the stage.
Lacson is a guest candidate under Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance.
Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, a senatorial candidate under Sen. Grace Poe’s ticket, was also invited and endorsed by Suarez during the latter’s proclamation rally. RAM