House scraps P10-B budget for more fighter jets

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has scrapped a P10-billion appropriation recommended by the Senate for the procurement of more fighter planes for the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

The rejection was made during last week’s bicameral conference on the proposed P3.002-trillion 2016 national budget.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, House appropriations committee chairman, told reporters yesterday that House conferees did not accept their Senate counterparts’ recommendation as it would have taken P8 billion from funds for conditional cash transfers (CCT) to poor families.

“We could not accept it because it would have sacrificed the administration’s CCT program,” he said.

He said the House conferees, with support from Sen. Ralph Recto, prevailed in their stand that P8 billion be retained in the CCT program.

Recto was quoted as telling his colleagues in the conference committee that slashing the huge amount from CCT funds would have deprived at least 500,000 poor families of government assistance under the program for one year.

Ungab said instead of the P10-billion appropriation, the conferees agreed to allocate P1 billion for the PAF for the procurement of more air assets.