The Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines VP Jejomar Binay asked the Senate committee on finance to remove the P200-million pork barrel from his office’s propsed P417-million budget for the 2014 budget.
The decision of Vice President Binay on Wednesday, September 11, was hailed by Congressmen and called on the Philippine President to likewise give up his own pork barrel funds amounting to P217.6 billion.
Vice President Binay made the following statement through his chief of staff:
“I know that my decision will affect many projects such as scholarships for students, medical (–foul word(s) removed–)istance and medicine for our needy countrymen and the construction of buildings for senior citizens but I know that our countrymen will understand,” Binay said in a statement read by his chief of staff, Undersecretary Benjamin Martinez.
“I am hopeful that with this decision, I can send a message to our people that we in government are always listening to them and that we’re committed to serve faithfully, truthfully and with conviction,” Binay said.
According to Senate budget committee, headed by Sen. Francis Escudero the P200 million Binay wanted to cut from his budget be altogether scrapped from the P2.26-trillion national expenditure program for the year 2014.