Former lawmaker and spokesman of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) Barry Gutierrez expressed support for former senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s call for a special audit by the Commission on Audit (COA) on Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte’s P51-billion allocation during the pandemic years.
(From left) Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte and former vice presidential spokesperson Barry Gutierrez
He raised alarm over the massive allocation to the former presidential son’s district from 2020 to 2022, or the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
"Meron bang umangal? Meron bang nag-eskandalo dito? Si dating Senador Sonny Trillanes nananawagan ng special audit ng COA para dito sa issue na ito para malaman natin kung saan ba dinala ‘yung 51 billion (Did anyone object? Did anyone raise a ruckus? Former senator Sonny Trillanes is calling for a COA special audit for this issue so we’ll know where the P51 billion was spent),” Gutierrez, an ex-spokesman of former vice president Leni Robredo, said in a recent episode of his show on on RMN DZXL 558.
Stressing the need for public scrutiny and accountability, the former Akbayan lawmaker named Duterte in his radio program “Isyu at Serbisyo, Kasama si Atty. Barry Gutierrez,” adding that the House of Representatives itself made the report.
According to Gutierrez, the allocation for Duterte’s district in 2021 was even higher than the initial budget allocated for Covid-19 response for the whole country in 2020, which was at P27 billion.
In 2020, Duterte received P13 billion, then another P35 billion in 2021, and P13 billion in 2022.
The former lawmaker lamented that the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development’s (DHSUD) budget in 2020 was merely P7 billion.
“Kung idagdag mo ‘yung P27 billion na initial allocation para sa Covid response plus 7 billion para sa housing projects ng buong gobyerno, mas malaki pa [rin] yung 35 [billion] (If you will add the P27 billion as initial allocation for the Covid response plus the P7 billion for housing projects by the whole government, the P35 [billion] is still higher),” Gutierrez explained.
Last week, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co said he is “99 percent” sure that reports on Duterte’s P51-billion allocation is true, though his office is currently verifying the reports.
The funds were allegedly allocated to Duterte from 2020 to 2022 during the term of his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
This revelation came after the younger Duterte on Jan. 9 complained that the House leadership “left only a measly P500 million for Dabawenyos" in terms of projects intended for his district.