Deputy Speaker and Davao City Rep Isidro Ungab has turned the tables on his critic, ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap who accused him of re-aligning P70 billion allocation for the pension and gratuity funds (PGF) of men in uniform during the approval of the 2020 General Appropriations Act.
(Photo via PNA / FILE PHOTO)
Instead of pointing accusing fingers at him, Ungab, former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, told his successor as appropriations chief to justify the P20 billion cut allegedly made by Yap from the PGF budget for 2021.
Ungab and Yap, whose family reportedly runs a business enterprise in Davao City, are close allies of the Duterte administration. Both are also identified supporters of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
However, the feud between the two was apparently triggered by a privilege speech delivered on March 1 by Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Michael Defensor. Rising on a question of personal and collective privilege on Monday, Ungab recalled that when Yap interpellated Defensor on March 1, the incumbent appropriations committee chairman owned up to the re-alignment of the P20 billion PGF for this year.
Yap, according to Ungab, admitted during the interpellation that he made the decision to cut the PGF without the knowledge of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
“So ikaw ang may gawa nito, wag ka na magmali-mali ng patuturo. Sarili mo lang ang pwede mo ituro! (So you did this, stop wrongly pointing accusing fingers. You have only yourself to point to),” said Ungab.
Last week, Yap took the blame on Defensor’s accusation that Velasco and his team were behind the P20-billion slash from the 2021 PGF.
Defensor said the amount that the Velasco administration took from retired uniformed personnel and pensioners was re-allocated to boost "pork barrel" funds.
An ally of former speaker and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, Defensor disclosed that there is currently a budget deficiency to finance the PGF expenditures this year.
Yap responded by saying that any fund shortage of the PGF will be addressed by passing a supplemental budget for the purpose.
However, Yap explained that the amount taken from the 2021 PGF is nothing compared to the P70 billion that was cut by Ungab from its 2020 allocation.
Ungab decried Yap’s accusations as “baseless.” "As I have previously revealed, the 2020 House amendments in the bicameral conference committee report of the 2020 national budget were controlled and were practically authored by the office of former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and then Deputy Speaker for Finance LRay Villafuerte," said Ungab. Despite this, Ungab and his Senate counterpart, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, agreed to provide safety net that woudl cover "any possible deficiency" caused by the P74.02 billion reduction, not P70 billion as stated by Yap, in the 2020 GF.
The House official also said that the Department of Budget Management ahs announced ina press release that the "real cause of the present PGF deficiency" is the unettled 2018 pension adjustment of P172 billion that was supposed to be covered with its inclusion in the 2021 General Appropriations Act.
“But the P20 billion budget cut of Cong. Eric Yap gravely affected these intended 2018 unsettled payouts,” Ungab lamented.
Nevertheless, the Davao City lawmaker assured the men in uniform that the issue will be resolved.
Himself a member of the military as a reserve officer, Ungab stressed that he will “help protect and legislate” what the men in uniform deserve from government.