(NI NOEL ABUEL)

UMALMA si Senador Panfilo Lacson sa akusasyon ng ilang kongresista na ang Senado ang dapat sisihin sa nangyayaring sigalot sa paghahanda sa 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games).

Giit ni Lacson, kasalanan ng mga kongresista ang lahat dahil sa pagsisingit ng P75 bilyon sa bicam report na niratipikahan ng dalawang Kapulungan ng Kongreso.

“They (House) should not blame us. Sila ang reason for the delay. Of course the Senate was also partly to blame, but we do not regret what we did because scrutinizing the budget and making sure na walang mali sa budget, constitutional duty namin yan. That’s what we exactly did and that caused the delay of the budget. But we did not cause it. It was the HOR that really caused the delay in the passage of the budget,” paliwanag ni Lacson.

Batid aniya ng lahat na ang mga kongresista ang dapat sisihin sa pagkabalam sa pondo ng SEA Games at sa pondo ng pamahalaan.

“That’s too far from the truth. Everybody knows by now, it created a lot of controversy then. During the speakership of GMA the budget was delayed because even after both houses ratified the bicam report, ‘yan ang final version, and yet they still inserted around P75B. And that we could not agree to,” ayon sa senador.

“So what we did was to again scrutinize and find out which of those P75B worth of projects ‘yung napasok after or post-bicam ratification. And unconstitutional because there’s a provision in the Constitution, after the third and final reading, wala nang papasok na amendments,” dagdag pa ni Lacson.

Sinabi pa nito na tiyak nang magkakaroon ng imbestigasyon sa kontrobersiya sa binneal sports tournament.

Inihalimbawa pa ni Lacson ang P1 B na inilipat umano ng Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) sa isang pribadong organisasyon tulad ng PHILGOC na kuwestinable.

“That (PSC transferring P1 billion to a private foundation like PHISGOC) is questionable. Remember, may mga nakasuhan na at may mga na-convict na riyan using a private foundation as a repository of public funds. ‘Yan ang Napoles case. ‘Yan ang mga private foundations ginamit na ginawang parking lot ng mga public funds coming from the expenditure program of government. We have yet to see that because there are justifications put forward by Speaker APC when he appeared as a resource person during budget deliberations of the PSC and BCDA. Sabi niya every step of the way, they were in consultation with COA,” paliwanag pa ni Lacson.