Vice President Jejomar Binay’s spokesperson claimed Wednesday that at least P303 billion in government savings may have been made available by the ruling Liberal Party (LP) to fund the campaign of its standard bearer, Secretary Mar Roxas.
According to Lawyer Rico Quicho, it is “perplexing” that the present administration asked for a P2.265-trillion national budget in 2014 then only to declare 13 percent of it or P303 billion as savings.
“[Budget] Secretary Butch Abad has said in an interview this will be released in the second half of this year. Why? We cannot help but think that the ‘savings’ will be used to fund the campaign of LP presidential candidate Mar Roxas,” Quicho said.
Quicho also hit Abad for the release of funds in the second half of this year.
“Why release the funds in the second half of this year? Palpak na, kahina-hinala pa ang ginagawa,” he added.
However, Abad said Quicho’s allegation is “completely untrue.”
He further explained that the declared savings in 2014 have already been carried over to the operating budget this year.
In a text message, Abad said the appropriations are still being implemented, noting that about 70 percent of those budgets are already within the agencies.
Meanwhile, Quicho also hit President Benigno Aquino III’s request for Roxas to stay as Interior secretary after the latter’s resignation.
“The President said he is still looking for a replacement and that he may ask Roxas to ‘finish a lot of things that are being done.’ That does not make sense at all,” he said.
With reports from GMA News. Photo lifted from Google.
