Cayetano dares Leachon: Name the person behind budget insertions, or I'll sue you

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday threatened to sue Oriental Mindoro Representative Paulino Salvador Leachon if he fails to reveal the person who supposedly made post-bicam insertions in the 2020 national budget.

In a press conference, Cayetano belied the claim of Leachon that there were insertions in the 2020 appropriations made after Congress came up with a bicameral report on the matter.

These include the P6-billion worth of projects which Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte allegedly inserted for his home province of Camarines Sur.

"Hindi totoo [yan]. Unang-una wala siyang (Leachon) alam, hindi naman siya involved sa budget," Cayetano said.

"I challenge Doy Leachon, ano yung in-insert after the budget? Kakasuhan ko yung nagpasok nun. Pero kung hindi, siya ang kakasuhan namin. I challenge him, ilabas niya, which one ang pinasok after the bicam? Illegal yun," he added.

According to Leachon, among the projects to be funded under the "pork" insertions of Villafuerte include the construction of the Camarines Sur Iconic Capitol Building (Phase 1) and of the Capitol Complex Sports and Convention Center in Pili town amounting to P750 million in total.

"Anong pakialam naman ng Congress doon sa provincial capitol ng Camarines Sur, tapos meron ka pang convention center almost about P800 million? Totally your district budget exceeding to the limits," Leachon said.

"I say illegal because that was done after the bicam. Yun nga ang ikinagagalaiti ni Senator [Panfilo] Lacson. It was inserted after the bicam," he added.

But with Leachon's allegations, Cayetano said it now becomes clear that those who deny the rumoured coup attempt against him are in fact the source of the intrigues.

Leachon is a member of the PDP-Laban party and is part of the camp of Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco.

"They keep denying na nang-iintriga sila pero lumalabas na. For the last three months, sinasabi ni Doy Leachon at mga kasama niya, 'Lahat ng pondo napunta kay LRay, nabawasan kayo.' Hindi naman niya sinabi na siya nadagdagan ng P1.2 billion," Cayetano said.

"Yun ang nakakatawa doon sa mga nagku-coup e. Deny pa sila nang deny, but as they try to justify their moves, nasasabi tuloy nila kung ano yung mga ginamit nila para magka-coup," he added.

GMA News Online reached out to Leachon for comment, but he has yet to respond as of posting time. —LDF, GMA News