Congressmen assured of P100M each in projects under 2020 budget —Salceda

Each congressman will have an allocation of P100 million in the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for projects for their districts and constituencies, an administration ally said Wednesday.

Of the P100 million, P70 million will be for infrastructure projects while P30 million will go to programs such as medical assistance, said Albay Representative Joey Salceda.

“Ang alam ko po diyan, to ensure na everybody has some minimum, P100 [million],” Salceda, chairman of the House ways and means committee, said at a news conference in Malacañang.

“They were itemized in the NEP [National Expenditure Program]. Well, there is no such thing as non-itemized expenditure.”

Salceda said the allocations were determined by the Executive department, which submitted the national spending plan to Congress last month for its scrutiny and approval.

He also denied that there were lump sum appropriations or pork barrel funds in the proposed budget.

“As you know it. As defined by the Supreme Court, there’s none,” Salceda said.

The SC in 2013 outlawed the pork barrel system because it “allowed legislators to wield, in varying gradiations, non-oversight, post-enactment authority in vital areas of budget executions,” thus violating the principle of separation of powers.

This year’s national budget came into effect only in May as its passage was delayed due to wrangling by lawmakers over post-ratification budget realignments and insertions.

The proposed 2020 national budget is 11.8% higher than the P3.66-trillion appropriations for 2019.

The House of Representatives and the Senate will have to pass a reconciled version of the budget bill to be submitted to Malacañang for the President’s signature. —NB, GMA News