MINORITY Leader Danilo Suarez denied on Tuesday, September 18, that the lawmakers at the House of Representatives are fighting over billions worth of pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the 2019 budget.
“We will not confirm the fact that there’s PDAF because that’s illegal, Suarez said in a radio interview. "Ang sinasabi ko lang na iyong presented expenditure program ng bawat ahensiya, March pa lang ginagawa na nila...”
The budget deliberations of the House of Representatives on the 2019 budget has been delayed since Monday, September 17, after lawmakers, including Majority Leader Rolando Andaya and appropriations committee chair Karlo Nograles, clash over the 2019 budget.
READ: House defers budget deliberations amid spat
Sources said there is a P55-billion insertion in the 2019 budget allocated for the districts of lawmakers who are allies of former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that the House leadership led by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would want to review.
In a Twitter post, Senator Ping Lacson said the budget standoff is all about pork barrel.
“We missed the near-brawl over ‘pork’ in the House caucus this morning. Watch for new developments affecting a major committee,” said Lacson.
In another post, he said “pinag-aawayan ang illegal at unconstitutional.”
During the executive meeting of the appropriations committee in the morning of September 17, Andaya, Nograles and appropriations committee vice chair Luis Raymund Villafuerte had a heated exchange about the 2019 budget. Villafuerte claimed that Andaya bullied him and Nograles.
He also said Andaya cursed at him and challenged him to a fist fight.
According to Suarez, the House leadership has found out that there are allocations for some departments that the latter are not aware of.
“Meron dung mga naka-line item na hindi alam ng Cabinet, ng mga ibat-ibang ahensya. Kahit kami nagtataka paano nakalusot ito kaya merong mga influence peddling na nangyari dahil sa hindi alam nung... tapos nitong bandang huli, there were some admission ... i-cocorrect namin lahat yun,” Suarez said.
(There were some items in the budget that even the Cabinet and other agencies are not aware of. We are wondering how these were included in the budget. There was influence peddling, and recently, there were some admission...We will correct all of those).
Suarez said Alvarez and his allies might have a participation in the budget insertion.
“Mukhang meron silang participation but to what extent hindi ko alam kung gaano kalalim,” he said.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, in an interview on Tuesday, September 18, said the National Expenditure Program should be created by the executive department without the participation of the Congress.
He said he believes that “intruders” from the previous House leadership are behind the supposed budget insertion. “Definitely. That will not happen without any [Influence].”
“The new leadership has all the reason to find out what the old leadership did in the preparation of the National Expenditure Program,” added Lagman.
The budget deliberations have yet to start as of this posting Tuesday, September 18. Andaya earlier said the House of Representatives eyes the passage of the General Appropriations Bill before October 13. (SunStar Philippines)