House Appropriations panel chairman and ACT-CIS partylist Rep. Eric Go Yap said Sunday it is the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which has the final say on the whether or not it would retain the reported huge public works allocation for Taguig City and Camarines Sur under its 2021 budget.
He said they are keeping their hands off stance on the issue, saying that such “national budget allocation” for the two areas is within jurisdiction of the DPWH as an executive agency.
“‘Yung totoo, nasa DPWH po ‘yan kung pano nila aayusin hindi po kasi puwedeng makialam dyan, kasi may separation ang Executive at Legislative,” Yap told the DZBB in an interview.
(The truth is it is up to the DPWH on how they will resolve that, we cannot meddle there, because there is separation between the Executive and Legislative)
He explained that before they jumpstarted the deliberations on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, they talked to secretaries of various government agencies to relay their parochial concerns and the needs of their constituents in their districts.
“Like sa Benguet, kulang kami ng road opening, kulang kami ng kalsada, farm-to-market road, so bago pa lang magbudget deliberation, kinakausap na namin ang agency for them to consider. Pero 'yung sinasabi na allocation per district, kung gagawin po natin ‘yun, hindi na natin kakailangin ng planning sa DPWH , they will get the total amount of the DPWH budget then we will just divide it kung ilan ang disrict, tapos na ang problema. Pero papano po ang Batanes puwede mo bang icompare sa Davao City, eh ang Batanes po maliit po, ang Davao City napakalaki. Kumbaga iba ibang district hindi talaga nagkakaparehas ng budget ang mga ito,” Yap said.
(Like in Benguet, we lack road opening, we lack roads, from-to-market road, so before the budget deliberation, we talked to the agency for them to consider. But, the so-called allocation per district, if you will do that, we don’t need planning at the DPWH, they will get the total amount of the DPWH budget then we will just divide it by the number of district, the problem will be immediately solved. But in the case of Batanes, can you compare it with the Davao City, Batanes is small, Davao City is so big. So the budget of various districts varies.)
Citing the 2021 National Expenditure Program (NEP), Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. had earlier said the two Taguig-Pateros congressional districts will get P11.11 billion under the budget of the DPWH, both from the central office of NCR and District Engineering Office (DEO) for next year. According to him, Taguig-Pateros gets P7.92 billion or 38 percent of the total P25 billion in public works budget for the DPWH-NCR for 2021.
Teves also questioned the supposed P11.8 billion public works allocation given to Camarines Sur.
“Kumbaga mahirap kwestiyunin 'yun kasi dahil mga national budget 'yun hindi naman puwedeng tanggalin dahil ayaw namin kay dating Speaker (Alan Peter) Cayateno, tatanggalin namin,” Yap said.
(It is difficult to question it because they are part of the national budget allocation, we cannot scrap them because we don’t like former Speaker, we will just remove it)
He clarified that the almost P12-billion public works allocation for Camarines Sur would benefit five districts of the province and not just the district of former Deputy Speaker Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr.
Should the DPWH scrap the public works allocation in Taguig City and Camarines Sur, it is the constituents of Cayetano and five congressmen of Camarines Sur who are on losing end, and not the lawmakers themselves, Yap said.
"Hindi po masama para sa congressman na gustuhin nyang maibigay ang pangangailangan constituents nya. But at the end of the day, it is the Department of Public Works and Highways which has the say kung ibibigay o hindi kasi sila talaga ang nagdedesiyon dito,” the House leader stressed.
(It is not bad for the congressman to ensure that the needs of constituents will be attended to. But at the end of the day, it is the Department of Public Works and Highways which has the say if the allocation will be given or not because they are the ones who really decide on this)