Denial of funds for critical solons meant to 'stifle dissent,' 'silence opposition'

MANILA, Philippines — Opposition lawmakers slammed Wednesday the move of the House of Representatives' leadership to remove funding for projects intended for districts of critical solons, saying that this was meant to "stifle dissent" and "silence the opposition."

Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo party-list) said their constituents would be the most adversely affected by the decision supposedly upon the instructions of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez himself.

"This is clearly an attempt to stifle healthy dissent which ultimately benefits the people and our democracy. What is worse is that in their attempt to silence the opposition, innocent people who are in need of the government's attention are going to be deprived," Alejano said in a statement.

Alejano's sentiment was echoed by Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay, 1st District) who described the move as a product of vengeance directed by the leadership towards critical lawmakers. This "steadfast critical dissent," according to Lagman, would leave the constituents of the 24 affected representatives "destitute of infrastructure projects."

"Zero allocations are projected to punish and silence opposition legislators even as it is their constituencies who are deprived of the benefits of infrastructure development," he said.

Lagman also asked why their communities were being punished for their efforts at maintaining credible opposition in the chamber which he said was a "bedrock of democracy."

Rep. Teddy Baguilat (Ifugao) also criticized the move and insisted that his constituents were taxpayers, too.

"The allocations would have improved the national roads to the rice terraces and poor upland communities," he said.

The budgets of 24 lawmakers, many of whom critical of President Rodrigo Duterte, were reported to have been slashed or removed in the 2018 budget that the chief executive signed Tuesday.

Seven of the affected solons belong to the independent bloc in the House, also known as Magnificent 7. Seven Makabayan bloc representatives were also denied funding for their proposals while the rest were Liberal Party members and majority bloc congressmen who had been critical of the president or Alvarez.

Alejano stressed that the affected projects were intended for their constituents, not themselves. He said Magdalo party-list's programs were implemented by concerned government agencies whose budgets included the financing for the projects.

"Therefore, if our recommendations are slashed, then it is our constituents that are disenfranchised," he said in a statement.

"Who's at the losing end of this decision by the Duterte administration? It's not we who are in the opposition but the Filipino public who is supposed to benefit from these programs and projects," Alejano said in Filipino.

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Following the Supreme Court decision deeming the Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers as unconstitutional, representatives and senators were allowed to propose projects, subject to the approval of concerned government agencies or offices.