Senator Panfilo Lacson called on his fellow lawmakers for transparency, after he found what appeared to be dubious realignments in the Senate’s version of the 2021 national budget bill.

“We already found some realignments that may seem questionable, based on our preliminary examination. For instance, while some of my recommended slash from the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) budget was adopted, we also noticed at least P10 billion worth of infrastructure projects realigned within the same agency under the Senate version [of the budget bill],” Lacson said in a statement on Wednesday, December 2.

Lacson originally moved to cut the DPWH’s proposed P666.5-billion budget by P60 billion, to be taken away from projects his office found to be either half-baked or rehashed from previous years. To his knowledge, the version of the budget bill passed by the Senate last Thursday, November 26, reduced the DPWH budget by P31 billion.

However, the summary of the Senate-approved budget bill circulated among senators going into Congress’ bicameral conference on Tuesday, December 1, indicated that only P20.4 billion was actually slashed from the DPWH budget, which was down to P646 billion.

Lacson questioned how roughly P10 billion was sneaked back into the DPWH’s allotment, and by whom.

“While we can identify the locations of the Senate-realigned projects, we may not be able to identify the senator-proponents. This is the reason why I have always called for transparency in all our individual amendments by posting the same on our official websites for the media and the public to see,” Lacson said.

The senator “practically demanded” to see the details of the Senate version of the 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) before the bicameral conference, but what senators had going into the meeting on Tuesday morning was only a summary of the measure, he said. They were then provided more details of the budget bill when the conference began, Lacson’s office told Rappler on Wednesday.

The bicameral conference is where lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives iron out differences in their versions of the budget bill in order to produce a single measure, which they will then submit to the President for enactment into law.

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Following the usual practice, lawmakers in the bicameral committee on Tuesday delegated the bulk of talks to the heads of their contingents – Senate finance committee chief Sonny Angara and House appropriations committee chief Eric Yap. This is meant to expedite the potentially contentious process, with the premise that Angara and Yap would consult with the rest of the members of the two panels.

Despite this, Lacson said he would continue his close watch over the budget.

“I don’t agree on anything that is not transparent, especially if it concerns the national budget. While the bicameral conference committee may have been reduced to a ‘Committee of Two,’ it is not exactly the case,” Lacson said.

“In fact, I already instructed my staff to coordinate closely with the Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office on whatever movements of funds before the final version of the bill is presented to the bicam members for our signatures and approval,” he added.

The bicameral committee expects to produce the final version of the P4.5-trillion GAB by next week, Angara told reporters on Tuesday. If things go according to schedule, the budget bill will be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte by the 3rd week of December. – Rappler.com