Lacson vows to push for restored P678-M CHR budget after House cuts outlay to P1k

The sponsor in the Senate of the Commission on Human Rights' budget for 2018 said the chamber would stand its ground as regards the P678-million allocation for the constitutional commission in 2018.

Senator Panfilo Lacson made the remark after the House of Representatives passed the P3.767-trillion 2018 national budget on second reading on Tuesday night.

It cut the CHR's budget to a mere P1,000 for next, becoming one of three agencies with similar thousand-peso allocations. The others are the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples and the Energy Regulatory Commission.

"Of course we will stand our ground on this matter and more. Once we get hold of the House version of the [General Appropriations Bill, we will scrutinize it as we always do year in and year out," Lacson told reporters.

The Senate Committee on Finance has approved the P678-million proposed budget for the CHR.

"I remember last year when I insisted that the P8.3-billion pork be removed from the DPWH budget because it's violative of the Organic Act. It was realigned to CHED to subsidize  free tertiary education instead. We did it last year. We will do it again this year," he added.

In a series of tweets, Lacson also questioned how the House passed the proposed budget with the same amount when the CHR outlay was cut drastically.

"P678-M CHR budget reduced to 1k but House version of 2018 nat'l budget stays at 3.767T. It's interesting to find out how the [CHR budget] was chopped," Lacson said in one tweet. —NB, GMA News