Senators admit P190-billion ‘pork’ in budget vs House’s P51 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Senators Panfilo Lacson and Loren Legarda admitted yesterday that around P189.9 billion was inserted in the stalled P3.75-trillion national budget for this year.

Lacson and Legarda said the P189.9 billion in re-aligned allocations should be called “institutional amendments.”

Legarda, who chairs the Senate committee on finance, told the bicameral conference committee that she proposed re-alignments of funds to finance the celebration of World Teachers Day, which will get P800 million, and the setting up of the command center of 911 emergency response operation.

“Some amendments were introduced by the vice chairman and I accepted his proposals,” she said, referring to Lacson, vice chairman of the finance panel. 

“I hope this will not be misconstrued as my individual amendments. Most of those are institutional amendments. Honestly, I don’t consider that as pork because I get a lot of texts and calls from agencies,” Legarda added.

Lacson, a known critic of pork barrel funds, admitted that he authored an amendment to the budget bill that would allocate an additional P4 billion for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

 “May I clarify that these were not personal amendments. The institutional amendment that I proposed is P4 billion for the activation of an infantry division requested by the AFP,” Lacson said.

The Senate and House of Representatives aim to resolve this week their differences over numerous provisions in the proposed P3.7-trillion national budget for 2019 so it can be ratified next week.

The bicameral conference committee on the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) resumed meeting yesterday to reconcile conflicting provisions in the GAB amounting to around P190 billion to include unprogrammed funds.

The bicameral conference committee agreed to put a P50-billion cap on the Senate’s P189.2 billion and the House of Representatives’ P51-billion alleged “budget insertions.”

Lacson and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, members of the bicameral committee, said there was a consensus that the starting figure for the amendments would be P50 billion.

“The least common denominator is P50 billion so that’s the amount we agreed we will reprioritize. The Senate has made cuts, we in the House will see if that can be possible,” Salceda said. –  With Paolo Romero, Alexis Romero