RAISING transparency issues in the bicameral process of finetuning the P4.5 trillion national budget bill for 2021, Senator Panfilo Lacson vowed to closely track down the movement of funds by a so-called ‘’committee of two.”
This, even as Lacson cited initial findings indicate “questionable realignments” prompting the need for closer scrutiny of the annual budget’s details.
“I don’t agree with anything that is not transparent, especially if it concerns the national budget,” Lacson said Wednesday, adding: “While the bicameral conference committee may have been reduced to a Committee of Two, it is not exactly the case.”
Lacson said he instructed his Senate staff to coordinate with the Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) to track “whatever movements of funds before the final version of the bill is presented to the bicameral members for our signatures and approval.”
The senator said he “practically demanded” that his office be furnished with the full details of the Senate-approved version of the 2021 budget bill before the convening of the bicameral conference, after noting that what was provided to him was “only the summary of the Senate version.”
“Having said all that, we already found some realignments that may seem questionable, based on our preliminary examination,” Lacson disclosed.
For instance, the senator noted that “while some of my recommended [cuts] from the Department of Public Works and Highways budget was adopted, we also noticed at least P10 billion worth of infrastructure projects [were] realigned within the same agency under the Senate version.”
Lacson noted that while they can identify the locations of the Senate-realigned projects, “we may not be able to identify the senator-proponents.”
The senator added, “this is the reason why I have always called for transparency in all our individual amendments by posting the same on our official web sites for the media and the public to see.”
He, however, clarified that “these are very preliminary even as we continue our scrutiny of the budget measure. Thus the importance of transparency cannot be emphasized enough.”
Image credits: Senate PRIB