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'Bakit ngayon lang?' Timing of Imee's attacks on AKAP, budget process questionable, says solons
'Bakit ngayon lang?' Timing of Imee's attacks on AKAP, budget process questionable, says solons
At A Glance
- House of Representatives members find questionable the timing of Senator Imee Marcos' rants about P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2024 or the current national budget.
Senator Imee Marcos
Members of the House of Representatives find questionable the timing of Senator Imee Marcos' rants about P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2024 or the current national budget.
Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Party-list Rep. Margarita Nograles, Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, and 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez had this to say in response to the senator's raising of her concerns on how the House and the Senate go over the budget in the Bicameral Conference Committee.
“The GAA was signed in December. It’s almost the end of February, bakit ngayon lang kinukuwestyon ito? Dapat po especially during the bicam, if may talagang irregularities, this should have been raised as early as the discussions,” Nograles, a House deputy majority leader, said.
(Why question it only now? This should have been done especially during the bicam, if there were really irregularities.)
As a final review of sorts, the proposed budget goes through scrutiny by the bicam panel, which is composed of selected congressmen and senators.
"At bakit po ngayon kinukuwestyon ito sa timing na may malaking issue. Ang nakakatakot po dito, sa bawat na lang po na ayuda na binibigay po namin sa taumbayan na kasama po sa trabaho ng public officials, servants, bakit nirerelate dito sa PI (people’s initiative)? Nograles asked.
(Why question it now, there's a big issue with the timing. What's scary is that every delivery of government aid, which is part of the work of public officials, is being related to the PI.)
Senator Marcos recently claimed that funds for the P26.7-billion Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) were being used to collect signatures for the PI for Charter change (Cha-cha). AKAP, essentially a pro-poor program, was inserted during the bicam meetings for the 2024 budget.
House leaders have earlier noted that the lady senator was part of the bicam, and that she even signed the committee report.
Adiong said he did not see any irregularity in the budget enactment process followed by the House and the Senate. “I don’t see any reason why some of our counterparts in the Senate are questioning the process when they themselves have affixed their signatures."
Adiong said the new AKAP program was questioned only in relation to the PI, which Senator Marocs is investigating through her committee in the Senate.
“It’s a catch-up intervention, kasi once they graduated based on the data according to the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority), 'yung mga above the poverty line, 'yun ang kino-consider po nating near poor,” he added.
(Those above the poverty line are what we consider poor.)
“It went ballistic, everybody went ballistic…I don’t know the reason why it was attached to the ongoing PI investigation, which is sa amin po (for us), is completely untrue, na hindi po 'yan gagamitin sa PI (that won't be used for the Pi),” Adiong stressed.
For his part, Gutierrez said Senator Marcos' claim that the bicam on the budget did not go through the normal process was a “grave accusation".
READ ME AGAIN:
“For some of our stakeholders to claim now 'yung bicam ay hindi dumaan sa tamang proseso, that is something to be studied. It’s a grave accusation that should be studied carefully and investigated,” Gutierrez, a lawyer by profession, said.
“Paano po natin masasabi na hindi dumaan sa proseso eh kayo nga po ang nag-signify, you show approval of the same by giving that signature?” he asked, referring to the senator’s signature in the bicam report on the budget that was ratified by both the Senate and the House.
(How can you say that it didn't go through the process if you yourself signified.)
"Yung timing pa...in light of yung inquiry [ni Senator Marcos] into PI. So sa amin po, of all the things, bakit yung nakakatulong pa sa tao [ang kinikuwestiyon]...Bakit po ngayon naging issue?"
(And the timing...in light of the Senator Marcos' inquiry into PI. So for us, of all things, why question something that benefits the people...Why did it become an issue now?)