FORMER senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson yesterday described as “sneaky” the P60 billion “insertion” by the House of Representatives for the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) in the version of the final version of the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA), or the government’s national budget.
In an interview with radio dwPM, Lacson pointed out that the AKAP budget was not included in the Senate and House’s third and final reading versions of the GAA.
AKAP is a P5,000 one-time financial assistance to workers who earn less than P23,000 monthly. It has a P60 billion allocation in the 2024 national budget, of which P26.7 billion is lodged with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The allocation, Lacson said, was only presented during the bicameral conference committee discussions.
The former senator, who exhaustively examined the annual budgets of the government during his term, said there is nothing wrong or illegal on last-minute insertions or amendments to the national budget as it is allowed by law so budgets can be allotted to an agency or agencies which needed them most.
He stressed, though, that this should be done with the consent of both houses of Congress, as he pointed out that insertions usually happen when bicameral panel contingents meet in closed-door sessions where only members of a “small committee” are allowed to discuss the national budget.
“Walang masama sa pagsulpot bigla ng isang item sa BCC (bicameral conference committee), wala namang rules o batas na nagsasabing bawal ‘yan. Ang masama (dito), ang trust. Kasi kung may mutual trust ang HOR (House) at Senado, walang masisingit (There is nothing wrong when an item suddenly appears during the bicameral conference committee. There are no rules or laws which say that it is prohibited. The issue here is trust. Because if there is mutual trust between the HOR [House] and the Senate, there will be no insertions),” Lacson said.
“Ang nangyari sa AKAP, parang palihim, parang sneaky ang pag-insert kasi tinago ito… nasa ilalim ng budget ng appropriation ng DSWD pero para naka-insert after Quick Reaction fund, doon napasingit (What happened with the AKAP was it was kept as a secret. It was inserted in a sneaky manner because it was hidden under the budget appropriation of the DSWD but was placed in its Quick Reaction fund),” he added.
He said once sneaky insertions are made, not all members of the bicameral panel are informed about it.
“Kaunti nakakaalam. Bakit kaunti nakakaalam? Doon lumalabas ang suspicion na ang nakakaalam lang nito ay ang mga proponent. Sa Senado, wala silang kamalay-malay na may AKAP as an item sa budget ng DSWD. Doon nag-ugat ang controversy (Only a few knows about it [AKAP]. Why? That’s why there are suspicions because only the proponents knew about it. The Senate was not informed that there is now an AKAP under the budget of the DSWD. This is where the controversy started),” he said.
Lacson said AKAP became even more controversial since it can only be accessed by its proponents.
“Ang naging suspicion sa AKAP ay gagamitin sa PI, sa pagpondo sa PIRMA signature campaign. Kasi nga, kung sino lang ang nakakaalam ng AKAP, ‘yan lang ang puwedeng mag-access (The suspicion is that AKAP was used for the PI, to fund the PIRMA [People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization, and Action] signature campaign. Because only those who are aware of it can have access to it),” he also said.
Sen. Imee Marcos, chairperson of the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, has said she was surprised to learn about AKAP because it was not supposedly tackled when she defended the budget of the DSWD during last year’s budget discussions.
She said she will convene a separate hearing on the AKAP to determine if government financial assistance programs, like AKAP, were used to entice registered voters to sign the PI forms.
Members of the House have slammed Marcos for saying she was not aware of the AKAP, pointing out that she was among the signatories of the bicameral report on the 2024 GAA.
But Marcos said the Senate bicameral panel was not aware of AKAP since “they (congressmen) got our e-signatures which they affixed on the final versions of the budget measure” without the senators having a chance to review it.
Lacson said senators can do nothing about the AKAP allocation anymore since the 2024 national budget was already signed by President Marcos Jr.
He said, though, now that the AKAP has been exposed, all lawmakers can now have access to the fund “kasi nalaman na, pumutok na (because they already learned about it, it was exposed).”
“Kung hindi pumutok ‘yan, ang puwede lang makakuha noon, hindi lahat ng kongresista by the way, ‘yung nakakaalam lang noon. Napakalungkot ang nangyari sa ating pagbalangkas ng budget (If that was not exposed, the only ones who can have access to it are those who know about it. Not all congressmen can have access to it, but only those who know about it. It is disappointing how our budget was outlined),” he said.
GOVT CASH AIDS
In the same interview, Lacson said he and former Senate President Vicente Sotto III have been invited to different places in the country for discussions on the PI signature campaign where they learned that local chief executives were sometimes accompanied by congressmen to distribute funds from the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD).
He said they also learned that the people who sign the PI forms were made to believe that they were AICS and TUPAD assistance and were given P1,000 each, but the actual budget allotted for it was P10,000. He did not give additional details.
Lacson said it is prohibited under the law for congressmen and senators to distribute government financial assistance since lawmakers are only supposed to legislate the budget measure, not implement it.
“Hindi siguro ito pangkalahatan pero sa nakausap naming local officials may nangyayari talagang ganoon. At ina-attribute nila ang pag–distribute sa kongresista o senator na present during the distribution. Minsan nga raw ang nagbibigay ng cash ang legislator eh (This may not be the overall scenario, but it is true. At least to some local officials we have talked to. They attribute the distribution of cash to the senators or congressmen present during the event. In some cases, they said that the legislator himself hands over the cash),” he said.
“Ang implementation ay iwanan natin sa ahensiya kaya nagkakalokoloko at dumadami ang nakakaltas, nakaka-encourage kasi ng corruption. Pera kasi ‘yan (Let us leave the distribution to the concerned agency. This is a reason for corruption because it involves money),” he added.
REVIEW BUDGET RULES
Sen. Nancy Binay said the rules on the budgeting process should be reviewed to determine what ar e needed to make it more transparent.
Binay said she sees the lack of enough time to thoroughly study the budget measure as one of the stumbling blocks in passing the budget measure.
The budget season starts when Malacañang submits to the House of Representatives its budget proposal, or the National Expenditure Program (NEP), 30 days after the President delivers his or her State-of-the-Nation Address on the last Monday of July.
Congressmen usually takes a month or so to finish the review of the budget proposal before they send it to the Senate where it will take another month or so to pass. Both houses of Congress then convene into a bicameral panel to reconcile the disagreeing provisions in the respective versions of the budget bill.
Once the bicameral committee report on the budget is ratified by both houses, the enrolled budget bill is then forwarded to Malacañang for the President signature. Failure to sign it before the current year ends would compel the government to operate on a reenacted budget.
Binay said certain measures are needed to be introduced in the budget process so the Senate cannot be pressured to just approve the proposed budget without thorough examination.
“Maganda tignan, i-review kung ano ang puwedeng idagdag sa proseso para hindi tulad ngayon na parang nagkakagulatan. Kasi meron din constrain sa time. Katulad kami, hanggang hindi binibigay sa amin ng Kongreso yung in-approve nilang budget, supposed to be na doon pa lang kami mag-start sa committee hearings. Parang hindi nga magawa dahil ayaw rin naming na magkaroon tayo ng reenacted budget kaya pilit na hinahabol bago matapos ang taon na pirmahan na ng President (There should be a review to determine what are needed to be improved in the budget process so there be will no more surprises.
We are under time constraint, because the Senate cannot start with the committee hearings without the House’s version of the budget bill. We do not want a reenacted budget that’s why we are compelled to finish the discussions in a hurry so it can be signed by the President before the year ends),” she said.
While there are still no amendments to the budget rules, Binay said both houses of Congress should learn to be totally transparent and seek the consent of the other chamber should insertions in the final budget version be made.
“I guess this time may parang trust between parties na ‘yung mga ilalagay na ano sa budget ay ‘yun talagang para ma-address ‘yung kailangan ng ating mga kababayan. Tulad nito, akala namin ‘yung P12 billion ay para sa eleksiyon 2025 kasi nung budget ay nagre-rekalmo sila na kulang. Ang pagkakaintindi namin ay para sa election, pero puwede pala gamitin sa iba (I guess this time there should be trust between parties that what we will place in the budget measure will be meant for that purpose. Like this case [of the Comelec], we knew that the P12 billion [inserted allocation] was for the 2025 elections because the officials were complaining that the agency is short of funds. To our understanding the funds will be used for the elections, but we later learned that they can be used elsewhere),” she said.
“So, siguro tignan kung paano na hindi magiging dahilan ‘yung kakulangan ng panahon para talagang mas matignan at mapag aralan itong mga nangyayari during the bicam (So, maybe we can review the rules so that the lack of material time will not be the reason why we cannot thoroughly study what is going on during the bicam),” Binay added.
