Lacson accuses Arroyo of 'realigning' P25M budget to favor allies

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday accused Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of violating the Constitution by tampering with the P3.75-trillion bicam-approved national budget for 2019.

In a statement, Lacson said Arroyo did this by allotting P25 million for Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) for each of the districts of House members who elected her as Speaker in July last year.

He claimed that while each Arroyo ally got P25 million for their respective constituents, she allocated only P8 million for the districts of House members who did not support her election as Speaker.

"Exercising this latest brazen, illegal act after the bicameral committee report has been adopted and ratified by both houses smacks of grave abuse of discretion on the part of Speaker Arroyo, not to mention a clear violation of the 1987 Constitution,” Lacson said.

Article VI Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution states that "upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereto shall be allowed, and the vote thereon shall be taken immediately thereafter, and the yeas and nays entered in the Journal."

"I maintain, and I trust that majority of my colleagues in the Senate will agree, that such realignments ordered by Speaker Arroyo prior to the printing of the proposed 2019 budget is clearly unconstitutional and inappropriate," Lacson said.

Lacson said Arroyo, even as Speaker, does not have the sole power to make amendments in the national budget "and certainly not after the ratification of the bicameral report."

Arroyo denies allegation

In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Arroyo has denied Lacson's allegation.

Salvador issued the statement after talking to Arroyo over the phone after his regular press briefing in the Palace where he fielded questions on Lacson’s allegation.

"According to Speaker Arroyo, as far as she knows, whatever was approved in the bicam [bicameral conference committee] is now the one being printed for submission to the Executive [department]," he said.

The P3.757-trillion proposed budget was ratified on February 8, but has yet to be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Former Budget Secretary and now Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the budget bill is expected to be enacted by the middle of March.

Panelo has repeatedly assured the public that Duterte and the Executive department will scrutinize every item of the spending bill.

The Palace official also said Duterte will exercise his veto power if some items in proposed budget failed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that declared unconstitutional the pork barrel system. —KBK, GMA News