ByJulie M.
Aurelio
DUTERTE
and Marlon Ramos
(ATeam-lnquirer
President Duterte has vowed to
scrutinize the P3.8-trillion pro-
posed budget for 2019 once it
arrives on his desk, giving as-
surance that he will veto it ifit is
''illegal.".
"They're still debating the
budget.I toldthem,'I've said my
piece. I would not sign anything
lhat would be an illegal docu-
ment,"' Mr. Duterte said in a
;peech in Malacanang on Mon-
lay night.
Reenactedbudget
Rejection of the proposed
ro19 budget means the govern-
nent will operate on a reenact-
rd 2018 budget for the rest of
:he year.
"Everybody will suffer," Mr.
)uterte said.
Running on a reenacted
)udget will cause a contraction
n the gross domestic product
UllW$ ]IllT
(GDP), he said.
"It will decrease our GDP,
you knii* that. There's no mon-
ey to spend to move on. It's an
everyday income that we ex-
pect. So that's what we are de-
bating," Mr. Duterte said.
The President spoke about
vetoing the. 2019 spending plan
after Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on
Sunday that Speaker Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo un.tawfully
funneled nearly P95 billion in
infrastructure funds to the dis-
tricts of her allies in the House
after Congress had ratified the
final version ofthe budgetbill.
. Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando
Andaya Jr., chair of the House
appropriations committee,
countered that thb Senate al-
tered some P75 billion,worth of
government projects in the
budget after the spending bill
had been ratified by Congress..
Referring to the senators'al-
legations that House mgmbers
had moved P79 billion in the
budget after its ratification, An-
lll $IOII 2OIO BUDOET IF IT I$ 1I.I.EOA['
daya said the House simply
itemized the changes it had in-
hoduced in the spending bill.
On Monday, he told a news
briefing that tlle senators did
their own "itemization" of lump
sums after the bud8et bill had
been ratified by Congress.
/ "This is not about Speaker
Creating pork
. The Senate and the House
chambers have been trading ac-
cusations of tinkering with the
spending bill to create pork, de-
laying the.signing of the mea-
sure into law,
Lacson has been leading the
search for pork in the budget
and his fresh disclosures have
pushed the enrollment of the
spending measure to Mala-
caiang farther away.
On Monday, Coop - Natcco
Rep. Anthony Bravo accused
Lacson of holding the budget
hostage in a "personal vendetta"
against Arroyo, whom the sena-
tor previously accused of perse-
cuting him for exposing the al-
\\
leged illegal'acts of her husband,
lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo.
Lacson said Bravo's claim
only "reflects .his true charac-
ter."
"I am a forgMng person. I
have forgiven those. who have
wronged me," he said.
not about any
^drroyo. This is
congr€ssman or senator..This is
about my personal crusade
against the pork barrel system.
This is about the national bud-
get, which is the lifeblood ofour
country," he said.
Prove it
Lacson dared Andaya to
prove his claim that the Senate
made alterations to the budget
after its congressional ratifica-
tion.
"If Andaya can provide more
details backed by some degree of
proof... I will join him in de-
nouncing it, leven] if it involves
my own Lolleagues," Lacson said
in a text message to the Inquirer.
/o{q<z 'Arl'
He rdaintained that his in-
forrnation about Arroyo's sup-
posed role in unlawfully modi-
fying the budget was supported
by a text message sent to sever-
al House members by a certain
Jo Ann Salamanca, allegedly a
member of the Speakerls staff.
Asked if any of his col-
leaaues indeed made changes in
the ratified spending measure,
Lacson said: "Nonir that I am
aware of, at least as of now,"
Changes made during debates
He said Andaya's claim was
"nothing new" as the P75 biUion
that the former House majority
leader mentioned was actually
the amount that former Budget
Secretary Beniamin Diokno in-
cluded in the proposed budget
of the Department of Public
Works and Highways (DPWH)
without the consent of the de-
partment.
Lacson stressed that the
changes in the allotment of the
amount was made "during the
Senate plenary debates."
On the other hand, he said
the P25 billion that Andaya waq
referring to was actuallyP23 bit-
lion.in individual amendments
that some of his fellow senators
had introduced, which Lacson
had earlier identified as pork.
Said Lascon: "Those amend-
ments were incorporated in the
Senate version, not postbicam
as Andaya is now saying."
Recall ratificttion
Senate Minority Leader
Franldin Drilon suggested that if
the House , would insist on
amendments, the best action to
take would be to recall Congress'
ratification of the budget bill and
return the measure to the con-
ference committee.
Drilon said it was the "only
remedy" to the situation.
Congress, he said, had re-
called the ratification of bills in]
the past to introduce neli
changes. -wtrx eteoRTs FRoM DJ
YAPAND tEtla B, saLAvERRta lNq
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