Lacson backs Drilon on tax bill amendments

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon (left) and Sen. Panfilo Lacson

Sen. Panfilo Lacson has supported the proposal of Minority Leader Sen. Franklin Drilon to make senators present amendments to the proposed 2018 P3.7-trillion national budget on the Senate floor for transparency.

Lacson said there was reason to believe that the Duterte administration’s proposed budget next year was riddled with pork barrel funds of congressmen and senators.

He agrees with Drilon’s proposal to discuss senators’ proposed amendments openly on the floor and not secretly.

According to Lacson, current practice allows senators to submit proposed amendments in writing, which “is not clear and has no transparency.”

Drilon’s proposal, said Lacson, would give senators the chance to explain and justify their amendments.

Lacson expressed willingness to discuss proposed budget amendments in the open as he warned that this could make him unpopular with congressmen and senators who had pork in the proposed budget.

“But that is not my intention,” he said. “My intention really is for the money to be put into good use. After all, that’s tax money,” he said.