Bokya pa rin! DBM still not releasing P84B ‘insertions’ in 2020 budget, Ping says. Here’s why

They may fume all they want, but lawmakers who had some P84 billion in insertions in the 2020 national budget are still not likely to get their “pork” anytime soon, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Sunday.

Lacson said the Department of Budget and Management has marked the P84 billion “for later release,” after verifying that the implementing agencies concerned were not consulted.

“Ito ang pinuputok ng butsi ng kongresista dahil ito ang mga insertions nila, mga project sa distrito nila, na naka-hold ng DBM,” he said in an interview on DZBB and GMA News TV.

“Binigyan namin ng authority ang Pangulo to realign. Ito pa lang, may P84B, ito ang ‘For Later Release,’ ito ang held ng DBM kasi ang suspetsa nila ito ang insertion ng mga congressmen, sabihin na natin pati mga senador,” he added.

Lacson said that when the DBM consulted with the Department of Public Works and Highways and Department of Transportation and other implementing agencies, it learned they were not consulted.

The implementing agencies said they thus would not know how to spend the funds – prompting the DBM not to release the funds and mark them instead “For Later Release,” Lacson noted.

“Dati tawag diyan, ‘for conditional implementation’ pero ngayon binago ang terminology, ginawang ‘for later release.’ Ngayon ang ‘Later’ hindi alam kung kailan. Ito ang pinuputok ng butsi ng kongresista dahil ito ang mga insertions nila, mga project sa distrito nila, na naka-hold ng DBM,” Lacson noted.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)