HOUSE Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Thursday, December 21, said the budget for proposed projects of opposition lawmakers was realigned to finance college tuition in state schools and the salary increase of soldiers and policemen.
"As much as possible, once funding for a project has been approved, then it is good to go. But in extraordinary cases we have to re-allocate funds for other priorities, such as education and the welfare of policemen and soldiers. This is what happened in the 2018 budget," he added.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman earlier alleged that projects proposed by the opposition were approved on third reading by the House of Representatives, but were deleted during the bicameral conference on the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on instructions of Alvarez.
The lawmakers have yet to clarify the budget cut as they have yet to see the final copy of the GAA signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Lagman said the House leadership and the appropriations committee had advised lawmakers to propose infrastructure projects worth P50 million, with an additional P20-million allocation later, for inclusion in the "Build, Build and Build" program under the 2018 national budget.
"What the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) proposed was not at my initiative or request," he said.
In a statement, Alvarez questioned the Makabayan bloc in the House on the source of funds that they used to implement projects in their respective districts, considering they have not had budget allocations. The Makabayan bloc includes representatives of Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Gabriela, ACT Teachers and Kabataan have not accessed funds from the government.
"In the first place, the so-called Makabayan bloc consisting of party-list groups identified with the mainstream Left has not accessed funds from Congress at all," Alvarez said.
"We do not know where they get funds for projects for their constituents. All we know is that the communist rebels with whom they have an ideological and political affinity impose what's known as 'revolutionary taxation' in areas where they operate," he added.
Alvarez, citing military reports said the NPA collects P500 million yearly in revolutionary taxes in Southern Mindanao alone.
He said that Makabayan bloc's silence in the issue of revolutionary tax makes the government suspect that they have existing ties with the communist rebels.
"We have not heard from the Makabayan bloc a clear and unequivocal condemnation of revolutionary taxation, leading us to suspect that they either directly or indirectly benefit from it," Alvarez said.
He alleged that Lagman "has projects worth a total of P3.8 billion in his district."
"We would be very happy to hear from him where this huge funding has gone," added Alvarez.
In answer to this, Lagman said "the Speaker's claim that I proposed P3.8 billion worth of projects is utterly preposterous."
"How could an opposition representative propose and be accorded this amount of projects?" he added.
Lagman said the implementation of infrastructure projects in his district is completely above board and the funds are fully accounted for by DPWH and the Commission of Audit.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said he did not propose any project and has never availed of any pork barrel type congressional allocation since his first term in 2013, in pursuance to his advocacy against patronage politics and the pork barrel system.
Zarate, however, failed to disclose where his office gets funding for its projects.
Also afected by the budget cut is Dinagat Island Rep. Arlene "Kaka" Bag-ao.
She said she was able to confirm with Alvarez the decision of the house leadership before the session break.
"I mentioned to him that this allocation is important for Dinagatnons who are longing for development and basic services that were out of reach to many of them in the past," she said.
"It has to be emphasized that the budget allocation that was allegedly slashed is not mine at all, but belongs to the Dinagatnons—Filipinos, Mindanaoans—citizens of this country whom we all serve and are in need of attention from this government," she added.
Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, a member of Magnificent 7 has also spoken about the issue.
"My constituents in Ifugao are taxpayers, too. The allocations would have improved the national roads to the rice terraces and poor upland communities," he said.
"We, in the opposition, are not in Congress to obstruct but rather our role is to raise a howl when wrong is being committed and give praise when it is warranted," he added.
Department of Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno has denied that the Duterte government has refused to allocate a budget to the opposition lawmakers.
He, however, admitted allocating a "lesser" budget for the opposition projects and "more" for the allies of the opposition. (SunStar Philippines)