Alvarez, his allies got huge infra budget—House leadership
Credit to Author: jvicente| Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 05:57:01 +0000
MANILA, Philippines — Former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s district and that of his allies cornered the biggest billions from the “inserted” infrastructure project indicated in the proposed 2019 national budget, the House leadership revealed on Tuesday.
In a letter that House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. is set to submit to President Rodrigo Duterte, the lawmaker explained that in the 2019 General Appropriations Bill approved by the chamber, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s district ranked 60th while Andaya’s district was 110th in terms of appropriations for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects.
“On top of the list with biggest DPWH projects is the district of former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez with P5 billion, while the district of the former Majority Leader, Rodolfo Fariñas, was allocated P3.5 billion, and the district of former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations Karlo Nograles received P4 billion,” reads Andaya’s letter, a copy of which was shown to media during an interview.
Andaya said the DPWH has “reportedly known nothing about” these inserted amounts.
He also said what the current leadership did was to “purge the budget of development favoritism” and “apportion next year’s spending to all districts in a fair manner.”
The House leader’s statement was in defense of the allegations Senator Panfilo Lacson threw in the past days. /jpv