Some lawmakers took notice of what they alleged as “dagdag-bawas” (insertions-cuts) and “hidden pork” in the final version of House Bill 6215, which proposes to appropriate P3.767 trillion national budget for 2018. The House of Representatives has reshuffled a total of P46 billion in the 2018 General Appropriations Bill, which passed in third reading last month, according to a statement released on Tuesday by Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, both of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT). “Apart from the P40 billion increase for education specifically for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, we noted increases in the budget of departments for additional hidden pork despite earlier claims that the 2018 budget is pork free,” Tinio said. ADVERTISEMENTThe lawmakers said these projects had been been “nominated by legislators or programs with a post enactment nature where politicians may have a say in identifying beneficiaries, thus classifying them as hidden pork.”“We are very alarmed at the increases in hidden pork barrel in the 2018 budget and even more alarmed at the decreases in the budget for social services,” Castro said. “The third reading vote was literally a rubber stamp vote.” /atm

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 24, 2017 09:22 UTC