Tiniyak ni Senador Sonny Angara noong Huwebes na walang kwestyunableng insertions o pork funds sa niratipiakahang ₱4.5-trilyong 2021 national budget.
“The fact is not pork barrel in the sense that is described by the Supreme Court, because these are line-item projects, like they are specifically set for in a line-item rather than lump sums,” paliwanag ni Angara.
Dagdag pa nito, “They require no – what the Supreme Court calls – post-enactment participation of the legislators. So I think it falls squarely within the legislature’s power to appropriate,” he added.
Pinag-isa ng Kamara at Senado noong Miyerkules ang kani-kanilang bersyon ng 2021 General Appropriations Bill sa ginanap na bicameral conference meeting. Pirma na lang ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang kinakailangan bago ito tuluyang maging ganap na batas.
Sa mga senador, tanging si Senador Panfilo Lacson lamang ang tumanggi sa bicameral conference committee report, bunsod aniya ng kwestyunableng pagtaas sa badyet ng Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) at pagbaba naman sa pondo ng National Broadband Program.
Sinabi naman ni Angara na mahirap “kumbinsihin” ang mga kongresista na ipagpaliban ang pagtatayo ng imprastraktura sa kani-kanilang mga distrito.
“It’s hard to dissuade them…because for them they (infrastructure projects) are visible or tangible manifestation of their performance as legislators and they need to deliver the goods back home,” paglilinaw ng senador.
