'Lawmakers' insertions in 2008 budget reached P4 B'

MANILA, Philippines – Congressional insertions made by senators in this year’s national budget reached over P4 billion, highly placed sources revealed.

The disclosure came amid verbal tussles between perceived presidential candidates in the Senate over allegations made by Sen. Panfilo Lacson that Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. inserted a P200-million proposal in the P1.3-trillion 2008 budget to fund a road project already covered in another part of the budget measure.

Text messages circulated yesterday that Lacson, Senators Manuel Roxas II and Jamby Madrigal also made insertions in the expenditure program, but Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago did not.

Instead of the usual insertions embedded in various allocations for departments and agencies, lawmakers had created a new entry in the 2008 General Appropriations Act (GAA) with the heading “Urgent Infrastructure Including Local Projects.”

Sources pointed out the heading on page 646 of the 2008 GAA. 

It was under this heading that Lacson claimed that Villar’s alleged insertion was placed under “Construction of C5 Road Extension from SLEX (South Luzon Expressway) to Sucat Road including ROW (right of way).”

Villar denied introducing the double allocation, which was already identified on page 543 under the entry “Construction of Pres. Garcia Ave. Ext. from SLEX to Sucat Road including ROW.”

One of the sources revealed the total insertions reached P4.127 billion, all under the special heading with nine identified projects and the “local projects” getting a lump sum of P3.426 billion.

The source explained that lawmakers are free to make amendments to the proposed GAA submitted by Malacañang to Congress for approval into a law.

In effect, the insertions are actually amendments to the proposed law, the source said.

Another source pointed out the insertions were not present in the version presented by Malacañang to Congress, and not even in the version approved by the House of Representatives.

“So that (insertions) could have come from the Senate version or from the bicameral conference committee where congressmen were also present,” the source said.

Since the lawmakers are working out a budget law, the source said it was to be expected that they make amendments or “insertions,” as it was highly unlikely that they would approve a budget proposal from Malacañang without making any amendments.

Whodunit

Sen. Joker Arroyo said Lacson’s exposé on the supposedly double entry for a road project in the 2008 national budget could boomerang on the opposition senator and other members of the minority.

According to Arroyo, the proposal to review all insertions in the national budget and who made them, in effect, would work against the senators themselves.

“We would be investigating ourselves for approving what we are complaining about or, to say the least, for our ineptness and indolence for not paying attention or not having a watchful eye,” he said.

Going over Senate records, Arroyo said the double appropriations were actually not sinister at all.

“A mountain out of molehill. A case of much ado over nothing,” he said.

Arroyo claimed Lacson and his colleagues in the opposition were among those who approved this year’s budget in the bicameral conference committee.

Arroyo said the opposition had nominated Lacson, Madrigal, Roxas, Sen. Loren Legarda and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. to the bicameral conference committee to resolve the conflicting budget versions of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

He said the P200-million allocation each for the C-5 Road Extension Project and President Carlos P. Garcia Extension – which turned out to be the same road – was indeed found in the Senate’s version of the budget and not in that of the House.

Arroyo, however, could not say who proposed the additional P200 million for the road project.

Lacson, on the other hand, dared Arroyo to identify the senator who made the insertion.

While admitting that the Senate was at fault, Lacson said the next step is to find the “Judas” who made a fool out of the senators by including the additional P200 million for the C-5 Road Extension Project.

Lacson said there is nothing inherently wrong in making an insertion but another allocation for the same project should not be tolerated.

He said some insertions were made only to speed up pet projects but some were simply meant to increase commissions or kickbacks.

Lacson denied making any insertions in the budget and urged his colleagues to come together and find out the truth about the whole issue.

“(The) double entry should serve as an eye opener… I think the intention is to steal the P200 million,” he said.

Lacson said the proposal of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to investigate all insertions in infrastructure projects was meant to intimidate other members of the Senate who had made insertions for their own projects.

He said Cayetano’s proposal would make things more complicated.

“We were able to spot P4 billion in insertions, P3.9 billion from the Senate, the remainder from the bicameral committee, but the bulk of insertions came from the Senate,” Lacson said.

“I will go back to my previous statement, nothing wrong with insertion per se. What is immoral in this issue are the kickbacks coming from those insertions.”

Senator Arroyo, meanwhile, said the first appropriation of P200 million was in the proposed budget submitted by President Arroyo to Congress. 

Insofar as the House was concerned, it did not add to the President’s original P200 million, Sen. Arroyo explained.

When the budget proposal reached the Senate for concurrence or amendment, the chamber appropriated an additional P200 million over and above the President’s original proposal of P200 million, Arroyo said.

“The House did not object to the Senate’s P200-million additional proposal, neither did the Senate minority contingent,” Arroyo said.

“Thus, the bicameral conference committee which included Senators Lacson, Legarda, Madrigal and Roxas approved a final bicameral report (that) included the Senate’s P200 million additional separate appropriation,” he said.

‘Road to progress’

Three congressmen also defended the funding insertion by claiming it is actually part of the 10-year plan to expand the C-5 road.

Parañaque City Reps. Roilo Golez and Eduardo Zialcita, along with Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, said the C-5 extension project is actually a “road to progress” that formed part of a national project to decongest traffic in southern Metro Manila.

“This (C-5 extension) is very beneficial for Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Laguna, Cavite and Batangas. Definitely this is a great project that will decongest traffic. I believe that the double entry is an honest mistake,” Zialcita said.

Golez also said the insertion is necessary to finance the road project to reduce the travel time of Metro Manila motorists and commuters to southern Luzon.

Barzaga also claimed reducing traffic in the area would boost the economic activity in southern Luzon.

Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman, on the other hand, called on the complaining senators to file their cases in court if they have the evidence to back up their claims.

Hataman said Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who headed the House appropriations committee that approved the 2008 budget, and Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the Senate finance committee, should explain the snafu.

Andaya, for his part, confirmed the “double appropriation” on the road project.

He said the second P200-million item for the same road project was a “congressional insertion” which he had frozen, meaning it would not be released.

Lagman, on the other hand, earlier indicated that it was the Senate that made the insertion.

“It could not have come from the House. We cannot make an initiative that big,” he said.

‘Mind your own pork’

Speaker Prospero Nograles, for his part, said it is up to the Senate to heed the call to review all insertions in the budget and inquire into all congressional initiatives.

Nograles, however, warned the senators not to “cross the line” and to observe “inter-chamber courtesy” in probing the congressional insertions.

“How can they (Senate) summon us to explain what we do in the House?” he asked.

“But in case they proceed with the proposed inquiry, we will cooperate through our committee on appropriations,” he said.

Nograles said Cayetano’s proposal does not speak well of the kind of work that senators do during the budget enactment process.

He reminded senators that the annual budget passes through them after the House approves it.

“How can they (Senate) investigate something that has passed through them?” Nograles asked.

Villar was irked by insinuations that he put in the P200-million initiative and the road project would benefit his real estate companies, which reportedly own huge tracts of land in Parañaque and Las Piñas.

Lacson has vowed to expose a total of P4 billion in congressional insertions.

Survivor for 2010

Citizens Battle Against Corruption Rep. Joel Villanueva sees political color in the controversy over budget insertions. He said the case should be lodged at the Office of the Ombudsman.

United Opposition (UNO) spokesman Adel Tamano, however, said the tiff between Lacson and Villar might prove good for the opposition.

 “It’s a good thing that this is happening this early. By the time the 2010 elections are around the corner, we should know who is the stronger candidate,” he said.

Asked who that candidate would be, Tamano said, “It’s the one who survives this quarrel.”

He said UNO cannot take sides “because Senators Villar and Lacson both belong to the opposition.”

As the controversy on the “road to nowhere” continues, some senators were asked whether Villar should take a leave from his post but even Lacson, along with his other colleagues, said there was no need to.

Villar’s real estate company, Brittany Corp., also denied receiving more than P92 million in payment from the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) for a property near the controversial project.

Ernesto Francisco, lawyer of Sen. Jamby Madrigal, made the disclosure on Brittany’s alleged sale of the property as the issue on the double posting in the 2008 budget came out.

Madrigal filed a resolution urging the Senate committee on public works to investigate if public funds were used for right of way acquisitions and construction of the road project that would benefit Brittany’s project in the area.

In a statement, Brittany said it did not receive from TRB or any agency or instrumentality of the government for that matter, the amount of P92 million or any other amount as payment for any of its properties affected by the C5 extension project.

Madrigal claimed it is common practice that the purchase price of the road right of way is usually lower than the fair market value, as the construction of the new road will, in effect, increase the fair market value of the remaining land, as well as the properties in the surrounding areas.

In some instances, Madrigal said, land owners would voluntarily donate a portion of their property for a road right of way to allow a new road to pass through the remainder of their property.

Lacson also questioned Villar on why last Wednesday’s session was suspended.

Lacson said he was supposed to deliver a privilege speech on the insertions made in the 2008 budget when Villar announced a half-day suspension of work at the Senate because of inclement weather.

The Senate employees’ union led by Perla Mayor clarified the half-day suspension of office work in the Senate was made upon their request.

Mayor said the request was coursed through Senate Secretary Emma Lirio-Reyes, who said Villar, after consulting with Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Pimentel, approved the suspension of work. – With Aurea Calica, Delon Porcalla and Jess Diaz