Proposed 2021 budget 'pork-free,' says Speaker Velasco

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday assured the public that no pork funds were included in the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 that the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading last week.

Interviewed on Unang Balita, Velasco said they made sure that the budget must not only be approved on time but must also be constitutional.

“I can assure ‘yung ating mga kababayan na ‘yung pinasa natin sa Kamara ay pork-free po ‘yan,” Velasco, who took over the House leadership from Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano last week, said.

“Talagang sinigurado po natin 'yan dahil naniniwala po tayo na hindi lamang po dapat on time ang pagpasa ng budget kundi constitutionalat [at] legal po ito,” he added.

Velasco made the statement amid allegations of pork insertions in the budget.

Asked if the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budgets for Taguig City and Camarines Sur were adjusted for fair distribution, Velasco said that they did not touch any funding.

“Wala na muna po tayong ginagalaw, mainly because, sinabi ko nga po, na we will pass it as net,” he said.

“Definitely the Senate will also hear the budget and then will go through bicam. And I believe that since I look at fair and equitable, doon po tayo sa fair and equitable,” he added.

Cayetano and former Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte represent districts in Taguig City and Camarines Sur.

In a House panel deliberations on the DPWH's 2021 budget in September, Negros Oriental 3rd District Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. asked DPWH to show the list of five congressional districts with the highest and lowest infrastructure allocation.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/756015/solon-questions-infra-allocations-for-taguig-camsur-in-proposed-2021-dpwh-budget/story/

Teves questioned the supposedly massive allocation for infrastructure projects in some legislative districts, particularly in Taguig City and Camarines Sur. —KBK, GMA News