Inalmahan ni Sen. Panfilo Lacson ang pag-uugnay sa kaniya sa multi-million road project sa Tarlac.
Una nang lumutang ang impormasyong si Lacson daw ang “sponsor” sa local item na nasa P4.1-trillion budget ngayong 2020, partikular na ang P25-million road concreting project sa Barangay San Rafael, Tarlac City.
“First, I don’t realign appropriations for road projects, much less local roads since it smacks of a pork barrel allocation. Also, the realignments I propose in the national budget are institutional – meaning, they have undergone planning and vetting, and are based on requests from the implementing agencies concerned,” wika ni Lacson.
Paniwala ng opisyal, posibleng ang mga nagpapakalat ng maling impormasyon ay may layunin lamang na idiskaril ang kaniyang adbokasiya laban sa pork barrel.
Ang isyu aniya ay kasunod ng P80 billion na lumitaw para sa Malacañang at Department of Budget and Management (DBM) mula sa congressional realignments ng ilang mambabatas na nakakubli sa “Build, Build, Build” flagship program ng administrasyon.
Nitong linggo lamang, nakatanggap ang senador ng mensahe mula kay Tarlac City Mayor Maria Cristina Angeles, kung saan nagpapasalamat ito para sa road project.
Pero giit ni Lacson, wala talaga siyang isinulong na local projects.
“Without imputing malice to the mayor, this may be a hatchet job intended to put me in a bad light since I have consistently and diligently advocated for the active involvement of the LGUs in the preparation of national budget and their just share in the allocation of funds,” pahayag ng senador.
“This is the reason why I keep questioning such congressional interventions which should have been processed and endorsed by the Regional Development Councils (RDCs) after going through proper deliberations in the different local development councils. If you recall, I particularly questioned why projects endorsed by local development councils constituted a mere 25 percent share in the national budget, compared to the 75 percent initiated by national agencies,” dagdag pa nito.
