sffirtare

ll wtorvrsoly, ocroBER 2, 2019

nPork-free'budget

s0nt to senators
By MaricelV. Crriz
THE House ofRepresentatives on Tues-
day morning transmitted to the Senate
the Palace-proposed P4.1- trillion na-
tional government budget fot 2020, a .

House official said Tuesday.

The transmittal cam€ a day after the
chamber finalized its P9.5-billion in;
stitutional atnendments to the money
measure, which the House leaders said
was ' pork free."
'Again ahd again, we contend that it
is a pork-lree budget as we strictly con-
fined ourselves to the decision ofthe Su-
preme Court which declared the PDAF
fPriority DevelopmeDt,Assistance
Fundl unconstitutional arid prohib:
ited the post-enactment identification
fum to As

2020 of the Pasig River Rehabilita- 2020 General Appropriations Bill

Pork-free... tion Commission, which President would be approved on time.
Frcm A7
Rodrigo Duterte wanted to dissolve He said he believed the senators,
because it was impossible to clean up especially Lacson, would find the
of projects," Deputy Speaker Neptali the Pasig River. House's proposed realignments ac-
Gonzales II said. Gonzales said the Senate, through ceptable.
. Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tues- its finance committee, was expected "I would like to assure the good
day he was not picking up a fight with to go through the budget, and that senator and the Senate of the Philip-
any member ofthe House, and that he congressmen were ready to sit down pines, and even the House is happy
was merely up against the pork bar- with the senators even if Congress with the work we have accomplished,
re1. went on a break starting Oct. 5. Defensor said.
"My fight is against pork and cor- 'Now the Senate can finally see for On Sept. 20, the House approved
ruption, and nothing more, Lacson themselves, Gonzales said. the 2020 GAB on third and final
said. Rep. Michael Defensor said the reading, which legislators said was a
. Rep. Lito Atienza on Tuesday House would also look into the pro- record time.
admonished Lacson against making posed changes of the Senate to the The chamber then created a small
sweeping statements about the re- budget bill as part of the budget pro- committee to work on the proposed
surgence of pork bairel in the 2020 cess. amendments to the money measure.
National Budget that was recently ap- He assured the public and the sena- The House realigned P9.5 billion to
proved by the House of Representa- tors that the House-approved budget augment the budget of 12 agencie!,
tives. was pork free and that no parked Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said on
. Senators want to cut by half the
funds werginserted in it. He even ex- Monday.
nroposed P26l-million budget for pressed optimism that the proposed With Macon Ramos-Araneta
\ TADr P/49€')