SENATE president pro tempore Panfilo Lacson yesterday said the insertion of funds for infrastructure projects should be prohibited by Congress to stop the corruption and mangling of the national budget.
Lacson, in an interview with radio dzBB, said
that while he supports the proposal of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, to remove unprogrammed appropriations in the annual budget, banning budget insertions would be the better solution to the problem.
He pointed out that that budget insertions are the culprit in the mangling of the national budget.
“Where did all these start? It’s in the insertions, right? Both houses of Congress must agree to prohibit [budget] insertions for [infrastructure] projects in the national budget. What should only be allowed are institutional insertions,” he said in Filipino.
He said institutional insertions are legal as they are done in the plenary.
For example, Lacson said that he will move to restore the more than P160 million slashed from the P330 million proposed budget of the Anti-Money Laundering Council when the agency’s budget is tackled in the Senate plenary.
He said the AMLC needs the funds to monitor more than 350 million suspicious transactions a year, adding that without enough budget, the Council will not be able to properly carry out its mandate.
“Kitang-kita na wala akong pakinabang doon. Wala akong makukuhang 25 percent. ‘Yun ang dapat payagan namin na insertions. Pero other insertions, alisin na. Hindi lang unprogrammed appropriations kundi insertions sa mga particular na infrastructure projects, kung puwede huwag na kami maki-alam doon kasi doon ang ugat eh (It is clear that I will not benefit from this. I will not have any 25 [commission] percent to collect. That’s the kind of insertion which we must approve. But the other insertions, let’s remove them. Not only unprogrammed appropriations, but insertions of particular infrastructure projects. Let us not be involved because that is the root of corruption),” Lacson said.
While removing unprogrammed appropriations may be good, Lacson said the Senate finance committee should still be selective since there are government projects that need to be funded outside of the regular proposed budget.
“Kasi baka naman may tamaan na mga programa ng national government, halimbawa mga foreign assisted projects (FAPs) at baka nangangailangan ng augmentation iyon. Meron kasing mga big- ticket projects na hindi pinamamahalaan ng district engineering office o ng regional offices, at ito ay sa Central Office mismo. Saan huhugot ang Pangulo? Eh doon siya kumukuha sa special purpose funds kung saan ito ay nasa ilalim ng unprogrammed appropriations (Because there might be some national government programs which might be affected. For example, the foreign-assisted projects which might require augmentation. There are big-ticket projects that are not handled by DPWH district engineering offices or its regional offices, as they are under the Central Office. If that happens, the President needs to get from the Special Purpose Funds which is under unprogrammed appropriations),” he explained.
He then proposed that the Department of Budget and Management be stricter when recommending to the President when to get funds from unprogrammed appropriations.
“Kung walang insertions na ibinaba doon sa Bulacan 1st Engineering District, walang paglalaruan na pondo ang mga district engineering office. Saan sila kukuha ng pondo kung walang insertions? Kaya sa akin unahin na natin yung ugat ng corruption na nanggagaling sa Kongreso mismo (If there were no budget insertions dumped to the Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office, the district engineering office will not have funds to play with. Where will they get funds if there are no insertions? That’s why for me, let us get rid first of corruption that starts with Congress itself),” Lacson said.
