Herrera: Don’t use national budget as a ‘political weapon’
Former Bagong Henerasyon Partylist Rep. Bernadette Herrera said that the Congress had to refrain from allocating budgets in a manner which favored political allies over districts where the funding could be used for projects that were needed by the respective communities.
She stressed that the budget could not be used as a tool for political leverage and that such manner of utilization was tantamount to a betrayal of public trust.
“Taxpayers’ money should never be sued as a political weapon. When lawmakers use budget amendments or insertions to reward political allies at the expense of communities in greater need, that is a betrayal of public trust,” Herrera said in a statement Tuesday.
The former lawmaker explained that budget amendments or insertions were a normal and standard function of Congress given that it was vested with the power of the purse under the 1987 Constitution.
Herrera said that it becomes erroneous, however, when that same power was purportedly used without consideration of which areas needed the budget.
“Budget insertions become wrong when you remove funds for projects that are needed by one province to fund a project of an ally. Are the roads there more broken, or is it because congressmen are closer to the kitchen?”
Herrera explained that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had systems in place to assess the condition of roads in the country in order to identify which networks needed to be prioritized for fixing.
The spokesperson of Bagong Henerasyon argued that such systems were pointless if both chambers of Congress failed to consider the data were presented by the public works agency.
Whether a project was for flood control or a multipurpose building, she explained that all infrastructure had to be funded through a “data-driven” approach.
“Our decisions must always be data-driven. If flood control will be funded, which communities are often and experience severe flooding? If it is a multipurpose building, where is it really needed, who will use it, and for what?” Herrera explained.
Herrera further emphasized that Congress was obligated to serve people of all districts, regardless of whether or not its representative was allied with the administration.
“Funds must go to where it is most needed, no matter the district, sector, or its representative. Even if you are not allies with the congressman, it is our obligation to serve the people of their district. They are the ones punished when you remove the projects that they need,” she said.
House budget amendments favor leadership
An independent review of the version of the national budget approved at the House of Representatives by budget watchdog BetterGov.Ph uncovered that engineering districts that received the most projects under the DPWH was the 1st District of Ilocos Norte.
The district represented by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s son, Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos saw a reported increase of P4.38 billion in the House General Appropriations Bill (HGAB) as compared to the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Also ranked in the top 10 were districts of House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy, Senior Deputy Speaker Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez, and House Committee on Appropriations chairperson Rep. Mikaela Suansing.
It is worth noting that compared to Dy, Hernandez, and Suansing who all share their engineering districts with other congressmen, the younger Marcos is the sole congressman in his district’s engineering office.
The original budget allocated to the 1st District Engineering Office of Ilocos Norte under the executive’s budget of P369 million ballooned to P4.74 billion in the HGAB that was transmitted to the Senate.
Sandro has yet to release an official statement regarding the matter.
A separate finding from the People’s Budget Coalition likewise identified that the House version of the budget favored allocating funding to subsidy programs which it argued were prone to politicking.
Budget watchdogs also flagged the seeming reduction in budget of districts with representatives that voted against the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte while lawmakers that voted in favor got budget bumps.
Of all congressman that were included in the district engineering offices that received the largest budget increases based on BetterGov.Ph, there was no lawmaker that entered a “no” vote in Duterte’s ongoing impeachment.