The chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday backed the call on President Rodrigo Duterte to use his veto powers and remove all “pork” insertions in the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019.
“I am in full support of the call for the President to use his line-item veto power to remove all pork barrel insertions in the 2019 national budget,” Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., the panel’s chairman, said.
“There is so much question on the 2019 budget that remain unanswered by [Budget] Secretary [Benjamin] Diokno. These will render all the work done by the Bicameral Committee useless.”
Andaya made his statement even as Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday expressed his support to Senator Panfilo Lacson’s call to President Duterte to use his veto power to eliminate the “evil pork” inserted in the 2019 national budget.
“If it’s appropriate and if there’s clear “pork”, why not? It should be vetoed,” Sotto said.
The issues against the proposed budget include the P75-billion insertion in the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the so-called flood control scam, and the P81-million bank deposits to Diokno’s in-laws’ firm Aremar Construction Corp., said Andaya.
READ: House upbeat on budget OK; insertions capped
He said also included in these issues were the anomalous bidding of big-ticket projects by the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service and the multi-billion 2017 and 2018 savings that serve as the department’s pork barrel.
“A veto message prepared by Secretary Diokno will surely perpetuate these unanswered issues, unfortunately with the President as unwitting victim,” Andaya said.
READ: Duterte urged: Line-veto budget of pork, insertions
“The House panel will elevate the veto message to the Supreme Court to clarify, not to defy, the veto message. We need to know the clear implications of the line items to be vetoed.” With Macon Ramos-Araneta
