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Suarez to Lacson: Be cautious in making claims vs. House
House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez on Tuesday asked Senator Panfilo Lacson to be cautious in making claims against the House of Representatives.
Suarez made the remark after Lacson claimed that each congressmen were given P2.5 million allocation under the 2019 national budget to purchase a supposedly overpriced ambulance.
At a press conference, Suarez said he does not know where Lacson got his information about the overpriced ambulance.
He even pointed out that currently, the price of an ambulance with complete equipment ranges from P5 to P6 million.
"So ang aking panawagan lang kay Ping, nung magsalita ka, ipi-pick up ka ng media. Sa mata ng media, sa mata ng taong nakarinig, papalabasin mo na tama ang sinasabi mo na ang House ay may overprice," Suarez said.
"Sa akin lang, may trabaho tayo e. We don't have the luxury of time doing our job.... Kung pwede lang dahan-dahan naman tayo sa pagbibigay ng mga statements na ganun," he added.
Suarez said that even if he makes clarification on what Lacson said, not many media outlets can pick it up, and the damage still has been done.
He said he is only hoping that the observation of Senior Deputy Minority Leader Anthony Bravo that Lacson has a personal vendetta against Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not true.
"I'm not saying na yung observation ni Cong. Bravo is correct na baka may vendetta si Ping against the Speaker, and he doesn't want the Speaker to be successful in her running the House kaya naghahanap ng issue. I hope Tony was wrong in his suspicion," Suarez said.
Only P8 million were each allocated by Arroyo to the districts of lawmakers who did not support her election to the speakership, Lacson added.
But House Committee on Appropriations chair Rolando Andaya said that what the House did was to merely itemize the lump sum HFEP funds "within the parameters" set in the ratified bicameral committee report on the budget bill. — RSJ, GMA News
