Roxas defends budget program from Poe’s accusations

Former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on Sunday defended the administration’s bottom-up budgeting (BuB) when accused by Senator Grace Poe that it is a way of bribing local government officials to side with the ruling party.

Poe argued that it was “suspicious (kaduda-duda)” that the “BuB Plus” was being implemented just months before the upcoming May elections.

Roxas, however, pointed out that the BuB has been in place since 2011.

He said the administration is giving communities a chance to invest in infrastructure “without corruption, without deduction, without kickback (walang kupit, walang kaltas, walang kickback).”

READ: Gov’t allots P20.9B for bottom-up budgeting

Poe also questioned the use of a “menu” or list of projects that local government units can fund using the BuB. She said it is a limitation.

“Anong masama sa menu (What’s wrong with the ‘menu?’)?” Roxas said, enumerating the infrastructure projects that can be constructed using the BuB.

He said the menu is to prevent officials from funding projects such as a welcome arch.

Roxas also explained that the government has a process to allow the funding of projects not included on the menu. RAM

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