(NI NOEL ABUEL)

INAKUSAHAN ni Senador Panfilo Lacson ang liderato ng Mababang Kapulungan ng Kongreso ng grave abuse of discretion dahil sa pakikialam sa panukalang P3.757 trillion national budget at paglalagay ng multi-milyong pork barrel allocations.

Ayon kay Lacson nananatiling nasa kamay pa ng Kongreso ang 2019 spending program ng pamahalaan at hindi pa natatanggap ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte kung aaprubahan ito o ibe-veto.

“Based on information shared by several members of the House of Representatives themselves, and I completely agree, among the other manipulations being undertaken by the House leadership on the ratified bicameral report prior to the printing and enrollment of the budget measure,’’ dagdag pa nito.

Aniya, idudulog nito sa kanyang mga kasamahan sa Senado ang natuklasan nitong bagong pakulo ng Kamara sa pangunguna ni House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“I will raise a big legal issue before my colleagues in the Upper House out of this latest scheme that our Lower House counterparts led by their Speaker is resorting to, in order to manipulate the ratified bicameral committee report,’’ sabi pa ni Lacson.

“The 2019 national budget is doomed, but not to our own liking,’’ paliwanag pa nito.

Giit nito, walang karapatan si Arroyo o legal authority na maghanda at magpataw ng menu list ng Department of Health (DOH).

‘’Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has no business or legal authority to prepare and impose the menu list of the Department of Health (DoH) appropriations for Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) worth P25 million in individual allocations for her favored congressmen, including a P2.5-million allocation for the purchase of an ambulance; while only P8 million are being distributed to those who did not support her election as Speaker,’’ giit pa nito.

“I maintain, and I trust that majority of my colleagues in the Senate will agree, that such realignments ordered by Speaker Arroyo prior to the printing of the proposed 2019 budget is clearly unconstitutional and inappropriate,” aniya pa.