il0lllllY eprit r' zorg
l{ouse leaders feud over }9O'B
pork as Du3O reviews budget
ly DJ Yap
EdeejayapINQ
\s President Duterte reviews
he 2019 budget, a row is sim-
nering in the ranks of the
{ouse of Representatives over
he distribution of P9o billion in
)ork allegedly diverted by the
eaders to their allies in the
:hamber.
Over the weekend, House
eaders traded barbs and accu-
sations about the "unconstitu-
tional amendments" that sup-
posedly benefited districts of
their alties at the expense of
their other colleagues for politi-
cal reasons.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis
Raymund Villafuerte Jr., a vice
chair of the House appropria-
tions panel, accused his peers
led by his political nemesis, fel-
low Camarines Sur Rep. Rolan-
do Andaya Jr., of tinkedng with
the budget after ratification by during the break and allocated
Congress, supporting an allega- to other districts, particularly to
tion earlier made by senators. those of favored lawmakers,"
Villafuerte said.
'Illegally r€aligned' Majority Leader Fredenil
"[Official] records would Castro pushed back, charging
show that over Pgo billion in Villafuerte was only making
public works and health funds noise because the House leader-
for programs under the ratified ship diverted funds that would
have gone to Villafuerte's dis-
lceneral Appropriations Billl
2019 that were originally in- trict and put the moneY else-
tended for Imore thanl 80 dis-
tricts were illegally realigned
where.
"Based on our records, ReP-
\ +rtntlr P^Q-€'i
(r)
resentative Villafuerte was allo-
cated P2.7 bitlion by the Previ-
ous House leadership. Of this
amount, P1.2 billion was includ-
ed in the P7s-billion insertion
by the former DBM (Depart-
ment of Budget Managementl
boqs (Beniamin Diokno), which
congressmen questioned and
opposed during the budget de-
liberation," Casffo said.
The P3.8-tdllion spending
bill was transmitted to Mala-
Nvy'i
caflang last week after
of delay resulting from a dis
agreement between the sena
tors and House members
the postratification changes
made by the House, which some
of the senators, including Sen.
Panfilo Lacson, branded as
pork.
The Senate leadership, un-
der Dressure from President
31il:[;,,"':?i'Jl1',""',':: fi
PAGG Pln -. -z

HOU$E
THOERS
FEUD llUER
P0ll.B PllRK
get but expressed "strong
reservations" against the
House amendments, Particu-
larly on public works and
.health funding that was to go
to certain districts.
Senate President Vicente
Sotto III signed and endorsed
the bilt with an advice to the
President to veto a Portion of
the budget containing the
House realignments.
Sour grapes
It appeared that the Prob-
lem had been resolved until
Villafuerte spoke out last
week d.gainst the House lead-
ership's actions, saying they
"had illegally realigned Pub-
lic worts and other Program
funds for the benefit of [se-
lectedl congresslmen]."
But Castro suggested it
wasjustsour grapes.
"We can no longer allow
the old practice of t]re Previ-
ous House leadership, which
dispenses progrdms and Pro-
iects based on loyalties and
votes on legislative mea-
sures. That was the reason
why there were zero Elloca-
tion for several congression-
al districts before," Castro
said.
Besides Villafu erte, "more
than two dozen select con-
gressmen were also allocated
huge allocations ranging from
P3 biUionto PSbillionPer dis-
fiict by the previous trlouse
leaders," Castro said, refer-.
dng to former Speaker Panta-
leon Alvarez and his allies.
r rhlr PA+€'
el
Respondirig on sun(ray-
Hli1li"i,"";l'o';fi u**'.f
chameleoh like him
"First, as I said, mY dis-
trict deserYes such funds as
these were legit projects un-
der the lnational expenditure
pro$aml that President
Duterte submitted to the
Congress- after his third
lstate of the Nation]. There
was nothing hankY PankY
aboutthis," he said.
'Fake 2019 budget'
"Representative Castro
should be reminded that it
is the House leadershiP that
had tried to pull a fast one
on our people by initiaUy
submitting a fake 2019 bud-
get to the Palace," Villa-
fuerte said.
Andaya earlier said the
House leadership made the
changes to make the budget
"equitable" to all regardless
ofpolitical affiliation or their
vote on key legislation.
Denying the senators'
claim that the House amend-
ments were basically Pork'
\Andaya said the chamber on-
ly itemized lump-sum aPPro-
priations in the budget, a role
he said Congress was autho-
dzed to pedorm.
In a 2013 ruling, the
Supreme Court defined Pork
as "lump-sum, disiretionary
funds primarily intended for
local projects, and utilized
through the respective Partici-
pations of the Iegislative and
executive branches of govem-
ment, including its members."
The tribunal struck down
all iterations of Pork including
"all informal practices of simi-
Iar import and effect, which
the court similarly deems to
be acts of grave abuse of dis-
cretion amounting to .lack or
excess of jurisdiction."
On Saturday, House
members were informed that
Mr. Duterte would sign the
budgetbill this week, accord-
ing to Zambales ReP. cheryl
Deloso-Montalla.
"We were given advice
that any time soon, the Presi-
dent lwould sign] it," Montal-
la said. INQ