(Eagle News)–Senator Panfilo Lacson on Saturday, Sept. 28, stood firm in what he said was his crusade against pork barrel despite criticisms by several congressmen.
“(Deputy Speaker) LRay Villafuerte, Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor, and other House members can take turns in maligning me while defending their pork but I’m still going all in,” Lacson said in a Tweet.
Lacson was responding to Villafuerte’s claims the senator’s remarks the House had planned to grant P700 million to each congressman and P1.5 billion to each deputy speaker through the P4.1-trillion national budget was part of Lacson’s “personal agenda” to “make the Senate look good at the expense of the current House leadership.”
Lacson later said the House backtracked on its plan after the Palace said President Rodrigo Duterte would scrutinize the budget bill.
Defensor, for his part, proposed the cutting of the budget allocated to the Senate, noting that the Upper Chamber had no constituencies.
According to Lacson, President Duterte’s veto of around P95 billion inserted in the previous P3.757-trillion national budget was “inspiring.”
The President vetoed the P95.3 billion in funding supposedly for projects inserted in the national budget after ratification of the same by both the Senate and the House.
“Patay na kung patay!…It’s the people’s money after all,” Lacson said.
