MANILA, Philippines - The Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid on Monday denied allegations by the opposition that the Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) is being used to buy votes for the upcoming elections.
Coalition spokesman and Akbayan Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez said the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay may not have understood the program or may be deceiving the public when they claimed that the BUB is being used for vote-buying.
He said the BUB would allow greater stakeholder participation in the funding of local projects.
“There will be an assembly to be attended by civil society organizations, people’s organizations, community groups, sectoral organizations and other stakeholders and they decide which projects will be funded,” Gutierrez said.
“The money will not go to the pockets of the people. I cannot understand where the allegations of bribery came from,” he added.
Earlier, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) led by Binay claimed that the ruling Liberal Party is using P100 billion in state funds to buy votes through the BUB.
UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan alleged that about P25 billion has been inserted in this year’s national budget for the BUB to bankroll the LP campaigns.
Ilagan also labeled the BUB as “the biggest pork barrel in election history,” “legalized vote buying” and “Bribe Ur Barangay.”
UNA made the allegations after LP presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II vowed to give barangay officials access to P100 billion in funds every year.
Gutierrez lashed back at the Binay camp for claiming that the BUB is meant to boost the LP’s campaign kitty.
“The problem here is that it seems that Vice President is so used to getting kick back from projects. In this case, there is no kickback here. The people themselves will determine where the money will go and they will watch over these projects that will ultimately benefit them,” he said.