Veto awaits pork ploy

Some congressmen wanted to recover the (projects) removed and vetoed by the President last year through the 2020 budget.

Some members of the House of Representatives are trying to restore the projects vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte in the 2019 national budget through their insertions in the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.

Just the same, reviving pork-laden items will not prosper as these will not escape the President’s veto power.

President Rodrigo Duterte will veto unconstitutional items in the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

The 2020 budget bill is up for the President’s signature after the Senate and House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference report on Wednesday.

Some projects that the congressmen wanted to insert in the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed 2020 national budget were among the items vetoed by the President in the 2019 budget.

“The information we got was some congressmen wanted to recover the (projects) removed and vetoed by the President last year through the 2020 budget. That’s why they don’t want to stop,” Lacson said.

He added that some projects under the P16 billion last-minute insertions from the House members were part of the P45-billion deleted project proposals of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

On Wednesday, Lacson bared that the House, through the Senate Legislative Budget Research Monitoring Office, has sent a flash drive to his office containing two files with file names “Source” and “List.”

He said that their review of the “last-minute insertions made by the House” revealed that the file named “Source” was the list of 1,253 items worth P83.219 billion which was allegedly used as House members’ “source” of their “list” of 742 projects worth P16.345 billion.

Lacson claimed that the P16.345 billion was inserted in the final bicameral conference committee report.

He further explained that the questionable items are still unconstitutional as the lump sum appropriations were only identified after the enactment of the budget law.

The lawmaker also flagged the “corruption-prone” flood control projects which were allocated with a uniform amount of P60 million.

Four of the flood-control projects that were questioned are located in Sorsogon, two in Albay and one in Compostela Valley.

While the questionable road projects were located in Marikina; North Fairview, Quezon City, Alaminos, Pangasinan; Tumauini, Isabela; Candaba, Pampanga; Balayan, Batangas; Nasugbu Batangas; Lemery, Batangas; and Catbalogan City, Samar, to name some.

But despite his claims, the Senate and the House of Representatives have ratified the bicameral committee-approved expenditure plan.

Lacson confirmed that Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate finance committee chairman Sonny Angara agreed that the Senate will enumerate the questionable projects and they will send it to the President.

“We already talked with SP (Senate President) and Senator Angara and we will list all the questionable items and we will inform the President. Of course, we cannot influence the President but we can inform him like what we did last year,” he said.

The senator said that he agreed to ratify the 2020 GAB despite the vague provisions to prevent another stalemate that may lead to delay in the budget approval.

The final version of the budget crafted by the Congress is now being printed. After this, it will be transmitted to the President for his approval and signature.

Lacson, along with Sotto, said it will be up to Duterte to veto the items which the Senate flagged as questionable provisions.