Villafuerte decries budget cuts in Build, Build, Build projects in CamSur

Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte on Friday decried the P386-million budget cut for infrastructure project in his province under the House-approved version of the proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021.

In a statement confirming Senator Panfilo Lacson's claim that lawmakers associated with former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano received budget cuts, Villafuerte said the cut covered the following projects:

• P182 million budget for the CamSur Expressway, a 15-kilometer, four-lane road with waterways, bike lanes and sidewalks that will serve as an alternate route for motorists going to the eastern and southern municipalities and of those going to Sorsogon and Albay provinces
• P124 million for the CamSur-Albay Diversion Road, a 61.90-km road project that will decongest the main road from the province to Albay and
• P80 million for the Pasacao-Balatan Tourism Highway, a 40.69-km, four-lane coastal road along the province’s west coast that will serve as an access road to tourism sites

All these projects, Villafuerte said, are under the Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build program and have been approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board.

“If the current House leadership claims to be fully supportive of the Duterte administration, why has it slashed the DPWH outlays in the House-endorsed General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for three of the flagship projects in Bicol that were approved by the NEDA Board chaired by the President himself?” Villafuerte asked.

He then urged the Senate, which passed its version of the proposed national budget for 2021 on third and final reading on Thursday, to “keep tabs on the actual allocations of all congressional districts” during the bicameral conference committee meetings.

This, Villafuerte said, is “in light of suspicions that more unwarranted budget cuts are forthcoming as a way to increase the infrastructure outlays for the districts of representatives closely identified with the current House leadership.”

Villafuerte issued the statement after Lacson said the House-approved version of the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021 featured noticeably higher allocations for districts of lawmakers allied with Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

Lacson cited the provinces of Albay and Benguet and said that the hike or cut ranged from P620 million to P15.351 billion.

Cayetano echoed Lacson’s sentiments, alleging that those who wanted him replaced as Speaker wanted more budget for their respective districts.

ACT-CIS party-list Representative Eric Yap, who chairs the chamber's appropriations panel, denied this, saying he would resign if these were proven true.

Velasco was elected by at least 186 lawmakers to replace Cayetano as Speaker last October 12, in accordance with the agreement made by Cayetano, Velasco and President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.

Villafuerte is a staunch ally of Cayetano. --KBK, GMA News