DOT chief spared from grilling during Senate budget deliberation
The Senate on Thursday night deemed submitted the Department of Tourismâs (DOT) budget for next year without grilling its officials on their much maligned tourism campaign. Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Francis Escudero had earlier said they would like to question Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim regarding the departmentâs botched âPilipinas Kay Ganda (Philippines So Beautiful)" campaign. âGusto ko lang malaman sa DOT magkano ba yung ginastos nila dito sa palpak na kampanya, magkano ang naubos na pera dahil akala ko ba kada piso paggagamitan natin ng tama at hindi natin sasayangin," said Escudero early Thursday. (I want to know how much the DOT spent for this failed campaign, because weâre supposed to use public funds properly and then waste them.) But during the budget deliberations later in the day, no senator questioned Lim, prompting Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III to deem the DOT budget submitted. âThe slogan was pulled out and there was no allocation for that so thereâs nothing to discuss," Sotto told GMANews.TV after the deliberations. âThe slogan also does not have anything to do with the 2011 budget." Sotto said they would not change the DOTâs P1.6-billion budget during the period for amendments. âI donât think weâll change anything. Nothing seems to be wrong with it," he said. Lim, for his part, said he didnât expect that their budget would be submitted so easily. âDi namin alam na ganito kabilis kaya masaya (We didnât expect it to be this fast, so weâre happy)," he told reporters. He said some senators might still ask them about the failed campaign some other time, which he said he is hoping will not happen. âNatapos na, nag-resign na si Undersecretary (Vicente) Romano, dapat tapos na yung issue na yun (Itâs already a non-issue. Undersecretary Romano already resigned over that)," Lim said. - GMANews.TV