House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos will finally be able to put an end to the "politically-tainted" construction of covered courts in his home district if and when the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 gets enacted.
Marcos, who represents the 1st district of Ilocos Norte, bared in a press briefing with local reporters over the weekend that a total of 178 infrastructure projects will be funded in his district via the 2023 budget bill, also known as the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
"Karamihan po nasa flood control, nasa tulay, nasa multi-purpose building, at nasa kalye. Mayroon din po dyan mga water systems, pangtulong sa ating mga magsasaka (Most of the funds will be funneled to flood control projects, bridges, multi-purpose buildings, and roads. There are also water systems that would assist our farmers)," he said.
The presidential son, however, made sure to put a focus on covered courts, which are precious structures to individual barangays. This is because covered courts facilitate other social services from the government.
"Kasi sa totoo lang po yung mga nakita namin for the last few months (In truth, what we have seen for the last few months), over the last few years, yung panggawa ng mga covered court sa mga barangay, ginawa pang pulitika (the construction of covered courts in barangays have been politicized)," Marcos said.
According to the neophyte solon, there's a skewed system on the construction of covered courts that pretty much guarantees that not all covered courts would get completed.
"Alam naman natin na may sistema (We know that there's system), I mean just speaking frankly, may sistema na, kung ano po ang porsyento na nakuha ng barangay sa eleksyon, yan lang ang matatapos na covered court (there's a system wherein the percentage attained by a barangay during the election will dictate its covered court's percentage of completion).
"Kapag ikaw ay umiikot sa banda-banda, ang daming three-quarters, hati lang, quarter-covered courts. So yan ang napansin ko nung ako ay umiikot (If you go around to inspect, there are a lot of three-quarters, half-finished, quarter-covered courts. That's what I noticed when I was making my rounds)," the presidential son explained.
"So pinangako ko sa lahat ng ating mga Kakailian na sa akin, hindi na yan mangyayari. So hopefully by the end of 2023, lahat ng covered courts sa 1st district ay matatapos na, 100 percent (So I promised my northern brethren that under me, that won't happen. So hopefully by the end of 2023, all covered courts in the 1st district would get finished 100 percent)," Marcos said.
"I don't think politics should get in the way of our barangay development, political development, economic development, and the welfare of our Kakailian," he further said.
He said fully-equipped evacuation centers are also included under the planned infrastructure spending in his district for next year.