President Rodrigo Duterte will scrutinize the 2020 national budget that will be submitted by Congress, Malacañang said Tuesday, after Senator Panfilo Lacson said 22 deputy speakers will get allocations of P1.5 billion each and congressmen will get P700 million each.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said it is the constitutional mandate of President Duterte to scrutinize the national expenditure.
“I do not agree with P700 million. It will depend on the needs [of the districts]. But ultimately it will depend on the President,” Panelo told Palace reporters.
Last week, the House approved the 2020 general appropriations bill on final reading, two weeks ahead of schedule.
Lacson said granting each congressman was granted a pork allocation so there would be no squabbling among lawmakers to avoid delays in the passage of the budget.
Pork refers to all forms of discretionary and lump-sum items in the national budget allocated to lawmakers for their pet projects. It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013.
House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier blasted Lacson for “trying to muddy the waters” with his “baseless” and “unwarranted” accusations.
The government was forced to run on a reenacted budget this year for four months following wrangling among lawmakers over alleged insertions in the national spending plan.
Duterte even vetoed P95.3 billion worth of items in the 2019 national budget when he signed it in April.
Panelo said the President will veto items in the budget again if he finds them unconstitutional.
President Duterte has previously certified the 2020 national budget as urgent for its swift passage to avoid the delay of economic programs and services.
A senior administration lawmaker, meanwhile, dared Lacson to name the source of his “disinformation” on the allocation of P1.5 billion to each House deputy.
Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro of Capiz denounced the renewed attempt of Lacson to demonize the House with his unverified exposés, even as he reiterated his appeal to the critics of the House leadership to stop spreading disinformation on the proposed P1.6-billion hike in the budget for the House.
“Senator Lacson should stop himself by coming to his senses… [He] has not scrutinized even one line of this general appropriations bill, [so] he should stop giving [his] opinion,” Castro said at a news conference.
House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez denied Lacson’s claim.
“Nobody knows where that [allegation] came from. It would help if the senator will help us ferret out the truth by revealing his sources and other details of his information,” Romualdez said.
“It does not have basis nor is it founded on fact,” he added.
Rep. Eduardo Villanueva also denounced Lacson.
“As far as I am concerned as Deputy Speaker for Good Governance and Moral Uprightness, with due respect to Senator Lacson, his allegation of the said alleged plan to give all House deputies P1.5 billion each is a big, big lie,” he said.
While the House is not affected by Lacson’s accusation as there is no truth to it, Castro reminded Lacson to keep in mind the principle of inter-parliamentary courtesy. “He should remember that the House of Representatives similarly like the Senate is an institution and he should remember that he owes it to the Filipino people to, in the meantime, defer any opinion or any observation until such a time his information is verified.”
At the same time, Castro said the House is open for scrutiny of its approved P4.1-trillion national government budget as well as its proposed increase in the House budget.
Lacson earlier said his revelation on the additional allocations was transmitted by “some congressmen themselves.”
Castro challenged Lacson to reveal who these were.
He also said the proposed P1.6-billion hike for House funds is only intended to support the increasing number of deputy speakers and key positions in the chamber.
“Let us be accurate by giving emphasis that the additional funds are meant also to benefit our Batasan employees, enhancement of the Congressional Budget and Planning Office [CPBO], and planned improvement of facilities,” Castro said.
It was Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino, chairman of the House committee on accounts, who made the proposal during last Friday’s budget deliberations.
The House proposed a P14-billion budget under next year’s spending plan.
“We did not expect that there will be additional deputy speaker[s]; we did not expect that there will be additional vice chairpersons… we did not expect either that there will be newly created committees,” Tolentino said.
“We are talking about all the employees, over 4,000, including those who are in a contractual status. We defend the budget of different government agencies and so we should not forget also to defend the budget of the House,” Tolentino added.
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