99 lawmakers to get huge ‘pork’ – Andaya
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 18:48:36 +0000
House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. revealed on Friday that 99 lawmakers are set to get even bigger allocations than his congressional district in Camarines Sur and that of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Pampanga.
Andaya, who represents the 1st District of Camarines Sur, said he only ranked 186th in terms of allocation while Arroyo, who represents the 2nd District of Pampanga, ranked 100th.
“Just to clarify, ang allocation ng ating Speaker, she’s actually ranked about 100th. Around 99 congressmen na mas malaki po ang allocation sa kanilang distrito. Ang sa akin naman po, I am ranked 186th sa allocation sa mga distrito (Just to clarify, the allocation of our Speaker, she actually ranked about 100th. There are around 99 congressmen with bigger allocations for their districts. For my district, I only ranked 186th),” he told reporters.
Andaya bared that an anonymous lawmaker was set to receive a whopping P8 billion for his congressional district.
“We are talking about, we are dealing with institutions here…I cannot answer that right now. But to me, we just want to clarify the situation,” he said.
The clarification came two days after Sen. Panfilo Lacson alleged that a certain congressman received an additional P1.9 billion and a congresswoman had received P2.4 billion for their districts.
Lacson did not reveal in his interpellation who the lawmakers were but had implied in an interview that the districts were those of Andaya and Arroyo, respectively.
Andaya said it would be up to the bicameral conference committee to discuss possible amendments dealing with insertions, which have been distributed out of “misplaced generosity.”
“Hindi naman namin hiningi pero nilagay doon, in-approve ng plenaryo kaya yun nga we are dealing with institutions. Likewise, we also have to deal with the Senate through their chairman kay Senator [Loren] Legarda. So it will be up to the bicam to discuss kung ano’ng mangyayari (We did not ask for these insertions but they were approved by the plenary. We are dealing with institutions. Likewise, we also have to deal with the Senate through Finance Committee chairman Sen. Loren Legarda. So it will be up to the bicam to discuss what will happen),” he added.
The majority leader previously said the appropriations for Camarines Sur were for a road project, which was requested by the regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Acting House Appropriations Committee Chairman Carmen Zamora previously said Arroyo’s district only had an additional P500 million, equating to a total of P1.9 billion funds for farm-to-market road projects based on realignments submitted by the DPWH for Pampanga.
Andaya previously told The Manila Times that the amount for lawmakers’ pet projects could not be tagged as “pork” but rather, legal proposals for their congressional districts.
He said they intend to comply with a decision of the Supreme Court, which outlawed the pork barrel or the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF.
On Friday, Lacson urged Arroyo and Andaya to show good faith by declining their P4.3 billion pork barrel allocations in the national budget for 2019.
“Since Andaya claims that the huge earmarks for his and Arroyo’s districts are a case of ‘misplaced gesture of generosity,’ maybe they can display a ‘genuine gesture of good faith’ by deleting or reducing those humongous allocations,” Lacson said on his Twitter account.
The senator maintained that if the appropriations committee disobeyed orders from the House leadership, the beneficiaries should return the amounts.
“Sila ang mga leaders ng House of Representatives. Kung hindi sinunod ang bilin nila, isauli nila (They are the House leaders. They should return it if their House colleagues did not follow their orders),” he said.
GLEE JALEA AND JAVIER JOE ISMAEL
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