Budget rift may reach Supreme Court

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday said he might refer the budget deadlock to the Supreme Court after Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies accused him of turning a blind eye to other senators’ alleged “pork” in the stalled P3.8-trillion proposed spending bill for 2019.

Lacson said there was a need for the high tribunal to straighten up its historic 2013 ruling that banished the pork barrel system from the government’s budgeting process for being unconstitutional.

House Deputy Minority Leader Anthony Bravo and Majority Leader Fredenil Castro called Lacson out for supposedly giving a hall pass for some senators to keep their own pork, or lump-sum allocations that legislators may earmark for their chosen projects. —Marlon Ramos