Three Senate panels to probe 2008 budget controversies
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/15/2008 9:09 PM
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Three Senate committees are scheduled to investigate the alleged "double appropiation" of funds to the C-5 road extension project in Parañaque and the alleged overpricing of the right-of-way payments to lot owners.
This came after Sen. Panfilo Lacson's privilege speech Monday exposed the alleged irregularities in the 2008 General Appropriations Act (GAA), specifically the C-5 double appropriations controversy.
The Senate's finance and public works panels have been tapped to investigate the double funding allegations, while the blue ribbon committee will investigate the right-of-way payments overprice issue.
Speaking immediately after Lacson's privilege speech, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said that though fund insertions are legal and it is what lawmakers usually do when they scrutinize the budget, he wants the matter explained to the public through a Senate investigation.
"In view of the gravity of the speech of the distinguished gentleman from Cavite, and as chairman of your Finance Committee, I feel that this matter must be explained to the people. We cannot avoid explaining the whole thing to the people. Let the ax fall on whoever is responsible. If the chairman of the Finance Committee committed dereliction of duty in performing his duty, I am ready to face the judgment of the people and the judgment of my peers," Enrile said.
"So I would like this, the speech of Sen. Lacson, be exposed to full Senate investigation... we will find out where is falsehood and where is truth... we owe it to the people," he added.
Enrile, meanwhile, said the trail on the double funding controversy leads to Villar since he was the senator who proposed the additional P200 million for the road extension project.
"For the record this 200 million [pesos] was submitted as an amendment by the Senate President," he said.
The senator, however, said that as far as he knows, the amount added was meant as additional only, not as a double insertion because of the extent .
Lacson's timing questioned
Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya turned the tables on Lacson on the exposé on the double insertion fiasco.
Andaya said Lacson had all the time to make corrections at the committee level as a member of the bicameral conference committee that approved the 2008 budget.
Andaya also confirmed that the insertion of P200 million on the C-5 extension project came from the Senate and not the House of Representatives. He cleared Villar of any culpability.
"Di nakapirma sa bicam si Villar dahil siya ay Senate President. Ang nakapirma dun si Lacson. Hindi pwede pipirmahan ang isang bagay na hindi maiintidihan. The budget is a complex matter and it can be interpreted based on how one wants it interpreted," Andaya said.
He added that Malacañang is standing by an earlier statement that there was no anomaly in the budget insertion since funds have yet to be disbursed, including those for a bridge project on Aguilando Highway in Cavite that was also tagged by Lacson as anomalous.
However, Andaya said that the executive department is willing to participate in any probe that is being lined up. With reports from Lynda Jumila and Nadia Trinidad, ABS-CBN News
