(Eagle News)– Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Tuesday, Sept. 17, denied he was among those who benefited from what were alleged to be P55-billion insertions in the proposed 2019 budget.
“I have no participation whatsoever in the allocation of funds or the funding of projects as contained in the President’s National Expenditure Program (NEP),” he said in a statement.
He noted that the NEP was prepared by the Department of Budget and Management.
“To my mind, people are not hiding anything and they are transparent about these subjects then there would be less squabbles and problems. Somebody must have been holding on some budgetary secrets, which should be deciphered in the plenary,” he said.
House plenary debates on the proposed P3.757 trillion budget were stalled early this week following allegations there were “insertions” in the proposed budget.
P1.29 billion was alleged to have been allocated to Lagman’s district.