MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is ready to remove the unclear allocations in next year's budget, Malacañang said Monday, after Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed that about P20 billion worth of items in the spending bill did not clearly state where the funds would go.
Lacson previously said there is no "pork" in the 2020 budget approved by the House of Representatives but revealed that the money measure contains unclear provisions.
Some of the unclear allocations, Lacson claimed, are "parked" in the budgets of the Public Works and Interior and Local Government departments. The senator said the items could not be considered as "pork" because they are included in the National Expenditure Program and are therefore assumed to have been vetted properly by agencies.
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Asked to react to Lacson's statement, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo called on the senator to identify the "parked" items in the P4.1-trillion budget.
"Tell Senator Lacson to point out what specific item in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) the P20 (billion) has been 'parked' and the president will remove it," Panelo said in a statement.
In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that congressional allocations known as "pork barrel" is unconstitutional because it violated the separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to wield non-oversight, post-enactment authority in key areas of budget executions.
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The passage of the 2019 budget was delayed after House and Senate leaders accused each other of making last-minute insertions in the spending bill. The delay forced the Duterte administration to operate on a reenacted budget from January to March, resulting in slower-than-expected growth in the first quarter.
Duterte signed this year's budget last April but vetoed 12 spending provisions and more than P95 billion worth of public works projects. In his veto message, the President said he would not allow "attempts to circumvent the constitution or any other action that will prejudice the Filipino people."