(Eagle News)–House Majority Leader Fredenil Castro on Saturday, March 30, denied the House of Representatives’ leadership took away P92.3 billion from the proposed national budget.
According to Castro, “there is no truth” to the allegations hurled by Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte that the P92.3 billion was also distributed to favored members.
“I can say with authority that Rep. Villafuerte is peddling fake news. I pity my good friend L-Ray, but I understand where he is coming from,” Castro said.
According to Castro, Villafuerte was one of those who would have stood to gain “billions in projects had we not corrected the inequities in the National Expenditure Program.”
Castro said Villafuerte was allocated P2.7 billion by the previous House leadership.
Of this, he said P1.2 billion was “included in the P75-billion insertion by the former DBM boss, which congressmen questioned and opposed during the budget deliberation.”
He said apart from Villafuerte, “more than two dozens of select congressmen were also [given] huge allocation ranging from P3 billion to P8 billion per district by previous House leaders.”