Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste filed a House Resolution this Friday urging the Office of the President to probe alleged discrimination related to its implementation of the “Bawat Barangay Makikinabang,” “Bawat Bayan Makikinabang,” and other subsidy distribution programs.
Leviste said that he had filed the complaints upon receiving reports that there were at least 84 barangays within his district that were not invited in the distribution of the P200,000 conducted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The solon explained that the development stemmed from the supposed “tampo” that Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto had on the said barangays based on a statement shared to one of his district’s barangay captains from the president of the Batangas Liga ng Barangay.
“Ang kapal ng mukha ng mga politiko na pinipigil ang pagbibigay ng ayuda na hindi naman galing sa sarili nilang pera, lalong lalo na at si President Marcos ang nangako na bawat barangay ang makikinabang,” he said.
(These politicians really have the audacity to obstruct subsidy distribution programs that don’t even come from their own wallets, especially since it was President Marcos that promised that every barangay would benefit)
Aside from the two mentioned programs, Leviste also questioned why the distribution of sacks of rice was only allocated to 1,000 beneficiaries in Batangas.
He said that he echoed sentiments from fellow congressmen to lower taxes instead of relying on government assistance programs to shield the public from the ongoing effects of the fuel crisis.
In his submitted House Resolution, he also mentioned that there were supposed middlemen that went to local government units, with the promise of providing access to the Local Government Support Fund for a 25 percent commission.
Leviste said that the issue concerning his district suggested that there could be widespread corruption in terms of the allocation of public funds.