President Rodrigo Duterte would use his veto power to correct insertions in the proposed 2019 national budget if they violate the Supreme Court ruling on the so-called pork barrel, the Palace said Thursday.
“The President is a lawyer, he knows his law. If he thinks that is in violation of the doctrine enunciated by the Supreme Court then he will do what is right,” Presidential Spokesman Panelo said in a Palace press briefing.
“What we recognize is the power of Congress to amend—to review and to amend to do whatever it feels is correct, necessary and right. We’ll leave it to them. Now, if the President feels that it’s wrong, then he can use his veto power to correct it,” he added.
On Tuesday, Senator Panfilo Lacson called on Duterte to use his line-item veto power to remove the alleged “pork” inserted by lawmakers on the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 national budget.
The House of Representatives, in turn, then criticized the Senate for its amendments to the budget amounting to P190 billion, questioning the senators for their so-called “institutional amendments.”
READ: House backs Rody’s veto of ‘insertions,’ pork in ‘19 budget
The Senate and the House have been locked in a standoff following the alleged “pork” insertions in the proposed 2019 expenditure plan.
Since then, the government has been operating under a reenacted budget since Jan. 1, 2019, after Congress failed to pass the budget on time.
Lawmakers hope to ratify the bicameral report on Friday, Feb. 8 before Congress adjourns its session to give way for the 2019 campaign and elections.
Lacson on Thursday continued to chide his colleagues in the Sante, whose minds were closed when it comes to pork barrel and were ready to debate “until kingdom come” their insertions.
He conceded, however, that respecting the votes of the majority on the budget is democracy.
“Sadly, no matter how hard I argued last night (Wednesday night), I only have one vote although I have good reason to believe that some like-minded colleagues are supportive of deleting all pork insertions, particularly the excessive and unconscionable realignments made not only by our House counterpart but by a number of our colleagues as well,” he said, without naming the senators.
He said he remained confident that the President would use his line veto to excise items that “clearly look and smell like pork.”
Lacson said Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, articulated the bicameral conference committee report on the 2019 budget during the all-senator caucus Wednesday night.
“Basically yes, the P160 million per House member plus the billion-peso insertions made by a number of their colleagues, and the P23 billion Department of Public Works and Highways insertions by a number of senators plus other insertions in different agencies have all been retained,” Lacson said.
On a positive note, he said, after discussions with the House, all appropriations for flood control, particularly dredging, desilting and the like have been deleted and will be realigned to capital outlay for the purchase of dredging machines.
Also, he said the DOH realignment that the Senate introduced and most his “institutional” amendments have been retained, including a 240-day-a-year school feeding program. With PNA
READ: House upbeat on budget OK; insertions capped