Gov’t savings for LP campaign? ‘Track record is clear’ – Roxas

Bea Cupin

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Gov’t savings for LP campaign? ‘Track record is clear’ – Roxas
The opposition questions the alleged failure of the Aquino administration to release 13 percent of the 2014 budget

CEBU, Philippines – Interior Secretary and the administration’s 2016 standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II dismissed concerns from the opposition over the supposed use of government savings to fund his campaign. 

Speaking to reporters in Cebu City on Wednesday, August 12, Roxas repeated a line he’s used before: that one look at the current government’s track record dispels those “concerns.”

Hindi ko alam sino nagsabi niyan kaya ayokong mag comment. Malinaw naman ang aming track record. At ang track record nito ng pangulo ay pinaninindigan namin,” said Roxas when asked about allegations from the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay that some P303 billion ($6.8 billion) in savings from the 2014 national budget will be used by the ruling Liberal Party (LP) to fund his campaign. 

(I don’t know who said that so I don’t want to comment. Our track record is clear. The President’s track record is something we stand for.)

In a statement released on Wednesday, Binay’s spokesperson for political affairs lawyer Rico Quicho said it was “perplexing that the Aquino administration asked Congress for P2.4 trillion in 2014 but did not release 13 percent or P303 billion.”

“We cannot help but think that the ‘savings’ will be used to fund the campaign of LP presidential candidate Mar Roxas,” Quicho added. 

Binay’s spokesman also criticized the Aquino government for not “accelerating” the release of funds in 2014 and instead, releasing it in 2015. “Palpak na, kahina-hinala pa ang ginagawa,” (They are not only utterly incompetent. What they are doing is also highly suspicious),” he added. 

According to Quicho, the following departments failed to secure their funds:

  • Department of Education (P2.2 billion)
  • Department of Public Works and Highways (P26.3 billion)
  • Department of Agriculture (P2.6 billion)
  • Department of Agrarian Reform (P5.8 billion)
  • Department of Environment and Natural Resources (P1.9 billion)

Binay’s camp had earlier expressed “concerns” over the possible use of government funds to further his political plans. 

President Benigno Aquino III’s declared his support for Roxas on July 31. The interior secretary tendered his resignation from the Cabinet on August 3, but this was not immediately accepted by Aquino. 

Aquino himself dismissed the allegations on Thursday, August 13. “We’ve been transparent in the way we release funds. Everything is on websites such as Pera ng Bayan. We started all these initiatives, and people can check for themselves,” he told reporters in Filipino.

The administration has yet to say when Roxas will be stepping down from his government post. Aquino said he is choosing from two nominees to the post. – Rappler.com

 

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Bea Cupin

Bea is a senior multimedia reporter who covers national politics. She's been a journalist since 2011 and has written about Congress, the national police, and the Liberal Party for Rappler.