Pulong Duterte insists Davao City got no congressional district budget

Davao City Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte on Saturday insisted that his hometown did not receive any congressional district allocation, disputing Palace Press Officer Claire Castro’s earlier statement that the government had provided funding to the city.

On Friday, Castro said Davao City received P52.80 billion in national tax allotment (NTA). Duterte, however, said this was different from the funding he was referring to.

“Ang NTA ay automatic appropriation para sa mga LGU (local government unit). Alam naman nating lahat iyan. Hindi ko sinabi na walang NTA ang Davao City…pero ang tinutukoy ko ay budget allocation para sa congressional districts,” Duterte said in a Facebook post.

(The NTA is an automatic appropriation for local government units. We all know that. I did not say that Davao City does not have an NTA. What I am referring to is the budget allocation for the congressional districts.)

Castro had cited the P52.80 billion NTA in response to Duterte’s allegation that Davao City had received no government funding.

“Sa sinasabing walang government funding na nilaan sa Davao City, ayon kay Cong. Pulong [Duterte], ito ang totoo,” Castro said.

(Regarding Cong. Pulong Duterte’s claim that no government funding was allocated to Davao City, this is the truth.)

Duterte said it would be best for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to show the records.

In a message to GMA News Online, Castro clarified that she had only been specifically asked about the NTA allotment, her assessment of the claim that Davao City had received no funds from the national government, and whether there were pertinent records to support the claim.

“It is better for the media to ask Pulong Duterte for those ‘proposed projects and their feasibility studies’ to see if the alleged denial of the congressional allocation was justified or not,” Castro said.

GMA News Online has also reached out to the DBM for comment and will update this story once it responds. — VBL, GMA News