Sen. Panfilo Lacson. PRIB Photo
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Senator Panfilo Lacson on Monday said a P15 million project for road improvements, which appears to be a 鈥渃ut and paste鈥� from the original request, caught his attention while scrutinizing the 2020 national budget.
鈥淧oring through the NEP vs House version of the budget bill, one project worth 15m pesos is annoyingly described, 鈥淩equesting for the improvement of a road鈥︹�澨� It鈥檚 interesting to find out how they can implement a request,鈥� he said in a Twitter post.鈥�
The NEP or National Expenditure Program contains Malacanang鈥檚 original budget proposal.
But when asked about his initial assessment of the House of Representatives鈥� approved听version of the 2020 budget, 听 Lacson replied: 听鈥淪o far that one which we found both in the NEP听and House version, which would indicate sloppy work.鈥�
鈥淚nitially, I look at it as sloppy work, since it appears to be 鈥榗ut and paste鈥� from the original request as submitted by the proponent. Obviously no vetting was done at all,鈥澨齃acson听added.
He did not听identify the proponent of the project but said听the proposal was intended听for a province听in Cagayan Valley.
鈥淲hat we are doing is in compliance with the SP鈥檚 (Senate President听Vicente Sotto III) instruction to scrutinize the 2020 budget with a fine-tooth comb,鈥� he explained.
The House of Representatives approved the proposed 2020 budget on September 20, 2019, but only submitted it to the Senate听last October 1.
READ: House swiftly OKs P4.1-T nat鈥檒 budget for 2020 after only a month of debates
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Lacson听said听he will hold a comprehensive briefing听on the听2020 budget on Tuesday with his research staff. /gsg