The House Committee on Appropriations decided to put on hold the deliberation on the proposed P666.47-billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) next year after the agency officials, particularly its four undersecretaries, failed to physically attend the briefing.
It was House Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. who moved for the deferment of the DPWH’s budget briefing after learning that only two undersecretaries and three assistant secretaries were physically present on the floor.
“The reason why the deliberation of the budget of the DPWH is being held in the plenary (is) because we would like the officials of the DPWH to be with us. Now, of course, Secretary Mark Villar is a very good friend and perhaps if they cannot be able to attend, then they should, with respect, write the Committee of Appropriations so that… tayo naman we are being present here,” the House opposition leader said.
Abante scored the absence of four other undersecretaries of the DPWH, while Secretary Mark Villar was virtually present during the deliberation.
Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. demanded Villar to explain the supposed unequal distribution of DPWH funds to various districts in the country.
“What is the basis for these allocations. Are they A. personalities? B. party affilliations, C. position or others, please elaborate and specify,” he said, even as he asked the DPWH to submit the list of five top districts which got the highest and lowest funding allocation from the agency.
Teves lamented that while his district ranked number 8 in absorptive capacity in the whole the country, it was only allocated less than P2 billion, while other districts were purportedly given more than P8 billion to P11 billion allocation.
"Tsismis lang naman ito, gusto ko lang ma-confirm kung totoo ba na ang Taguig City is getting more than P8 billion and Camsur is getting P11.8 billion,” Teves said, admitting that he does not have “complete data” to support such allegation.
(This is just a rumor, I would like to confirm if it is true that Taguig City is getting more than P8 billion and Camarines Sur is getting P11.8 billion.)
According to him, his staff was told that the data was “confidential.” “I don’t think any of the public documents are confidential,” he said.
Villar expressed readiness to immediately submit the list of districts that have received the highest allocations.
"When it comes to allocation per district, we will submit the list. Although I can say , the Appropriations Committee is in possession of this per district and they can give it actually,” he said. “Wala namang tinatago. (We have nothing to hide),” the DPWH chief said.
“Sana lang masagot nang diretso ang tanong ko. Ang tingin ko may listahan na tayo ngayon. Gusto ko sanang ma-post para makita ng buong bayan,” Teves said.
(I hope my question will be directly answered. I think we already have the list. I would like to have it posted so that the people can see it.)
He said his district, which is number 1 in Design audit in Region 7 and number 4 in road safety ranking in Region 7 should be given a bigger funding for its projects.
Dissatisfied with Villar’s answer, Teves pressed again the DPWH top official to explain the purported disparity in the DPWH allocation per legislative district.
"If you would like to look at the absolute amounts per district, these are readily available. I think the Committee of Appropriations is in possession of these numbers . You can post it, it is readily available to any congressman,” Villar said.
Teves said he cannot understand why other districts received P8 billion, while others got less than P2 billion.
He expressed hope such “huge disparity” in the DPWH funding per legislative district will be brought to the attention of President Duterte.
He disclosed that last year, the budget for his district “just disappeared.”
“Kaya ako naglakas ng loob na magsalita ngayon zero-hin man nyo ang budget ko, bahala na, pero hindi na puwedeng manahimik parati na 'yung iba dito natin anlalaki ng budget, 'yung iba hindi. Sana masagot ako nang diretso, kung ayaw ako sagutin hindi ko naman mapipilit. The country deserves to know kasi pera ito ng taong bayan,” Teves said.
(That is why I dared to talk now, even they give me zero budget allocation, whatever will be, but I cannot just keep quiet always because others got huge budgets, while others did not. I hope my question will be answered directly, although I cannot force you to do that. The country deserves to know because this is the people’s money.)
He clarified that he has nothing against Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who is Taguig-Pateros first district representative, and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund “LRay" Villafuerte Jr., who is the representative of Camarines Sur second district.
“Wala akong kinakalaban dito, kaibigan ko si Speaker, schoolmate kami, si L-Ray kasama ko rin ‘yan,” Teves said.
(I have nothing against anyone here, the Speaker is my friend, we’re schoolmates and LRay is a colleague.)
“Sana maliwanagan kami (We hope we can be enlightened about this). This is nothing personal, I just want to know because I am fed up already on why we are getting this measly amount and others are getting so high, again what is the basis?,”
Villar said they do not have the immediate breakdown of allocation of each legislative district but they can submit it to the lawmakers for their scrutiny.
“When you are asking about the basis for the projects, the basis is not necessarily the absorptive capacity. It includes also the pipeline projects.There are certain foreign-funded projects that are present in certain districts, so it might seem there is larger budget,” he explained.
“It is not a question of per district, it is just really that there are some districts, where there is the presence of flagship projects there and priority projects of this administration, and that’s just the realities of the budgetary process,” he added.
Villar assured the panel that they do not have lump sums in their 2021 budget. “We can submit the details to the committee just to show you the breakdown of all projects...that each one is individually specified.”