Duterte to veto illegal allocations in 2020 budget

President Duterte is prepared to veto any unlawful allocation in the proposed 2020 national budget once submitted to his office, a Palace official said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo assured the budget proposal will undergo a thorough scrutiny following reports of alleged last-minute insertions made by lawmakers.

“Provisions in the budget that run counter to the Constitution will be vetoed by the President, there is no change in that policy,” Panelo said.

The two houses of Congress ratified the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 last Wednesday, hoping it will be signed into law by the President before the end of the year. The bicameral conference committee had earlier reconciled the versions of the spending plan.

The budget document is expected to be transmitted to the Office of the President for action.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, however, revealed that around P83-billion in insertions were apparently made by the House of Representatives a before the bicameral committee signed the budget. Lacson said it was “revolting” that lawmakers “keep on dipping their dirty fingers” on the proposed national budget.

Panelo had earlier said scrutinizing the budget proposal is part of the “constitutional duty” of the President. The Palace has repeatedly appealed to Congress to ensure the timely passage of the budget proposal and prevent a repeat of the delays encountered in the 2019 outlay.

Meanwhile, the Senate has started the arduous task of listing down thousands of lump sum projects, also described as “pork barrel” projects, “treacherously’’ inserted by lawmakers at the last minute at the bicameral conference committee report.

The list will eventually be transmitted to Duterte who may or may not veto them.

“Of course, we cannot influence the President. But we can inform him, tulad ng ginawa namin noong nakaraang taon,’’ Lacson, an anti-pork barrel advocate, said.

Lacson said he, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, and Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, decided to submit the list of questionable lump sum appropriations to Duterte inserted in the proposed 2020 P4.1-trillion national budget.

Lacson added the insertion through the use of Universal Serial Bus by the House bicameral panel of P95-billion worth of pork barrel projects was made after the Senate and the House of Representatives had ratified the bicameral conference committee report for the 2020 national budget. The last minute insertion amounted to treachery, he stressed.

Lacson said lawmakers are reportedly known to pocket a minimum of 25 percent as commission for each of their pork barrel projects. (Genalyn Kabiling and Mario Casayuran)

http://tempo.com.ph/2019/12/12/duterte-to-veto-illegal-allocations-in-2020-budget/