Zubiri admits legislators have budget "inserts" but find "nothing to complain about"

Zubiri admits legislators have budget "inserts" but find "nothing to complain about"

SENATE majority leader Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri admitted Thursday that all members of Congress had institutional insertions in the national budget, saying that "these things" are not wrong.

Zubiri was admitted to the weekly "Kapihan sa Senado" media forum, where he said that these budget "insertions" were made every year when senators and members of the House of Representatives discussed the final form of the proposed national spending.

"In fairness to members of Congress and senators, every year, amendments are proposed to the national budget proposal, which brings nothing new," he said.

Zubiri said that these institutional amendments did not violate the Supreme Court ruling that banned the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or more commonly known as "Pork Barrel" because it was of distinct elements.

"We must follow the decision of the Supreme Court, of what is pork and what is not. Depending on the decision, it's about a line item that's no longer pork, "he said.

Senator Panfilo M. Lacson insisted, however, that these articles were "pork" because they were not part of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) presented.

Lacson challenged an earlier disclosure by House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. that deputies and senators have been allocated millions of pesos for their projects under the national budget proposal P3.757 billion $ 2019.

Andaya said that this amount was part of the amount of 51.792 billion pesos that had previously been described as "unspecified lump sums" and had resulted in a series of delays in the deliberation of the proposed budget for next year.

But Lacson said, "If it looks like pork, chopped like pork, disbursed like pork, then it must be pork."

He urged Andaya to read the entire decision of the Supreme Court which declared the pork barrel illegal for him to know what was and was not pork.

In the Senate, Lacson said he could only speak for himself: "I have neither 200 million pesos nor any amount not only in the 2019 budget, but for the entire budget of previous years."

"They collected 20 billion pesos from the proposed national budget and 51 million from each of the 297 members, probably more than a few privileged, since a simple calculation indicates a surplus of P2.17 billion. If it's not pork, tell me what it is, "Lacson added.

"With regard to the Senate, I know that several senators have submitted their individual amendments for projects. How many? I have no idea although I'm sure it's not a uniform of 200 million pesos each. I am also sure that I have none because I do not take advantage of this type of amendment or insertion, "he said.