In an interview, Sen. Lacson answered questions on:
– ‘aborted’ pork insertion in the 2020 national budget
– Senate panel decision on ‘ninja cops’
QUOTES and NOTES:
On the ‘aborted’ plan to distribute P1.5B to each Deputy Speaker and at least P100M to each district:
“When I went back to my office yesterday morning, I tried to recheck, tapos sinabi niya (source ko) hindi naman nag-push through. Well and good. Yung P1.5B for Deputy Speaker kasi, check ko uli sa source and I called up another source and confirmed di na tinuloy yan.”
“Hindi ko alam ang sinasabi ni Rep Salceda na P100M each. Yan ang hindi malinaw because they already passed the budget on third and final reading, approved na eh. Sa legislative process kasi, pagka passed on second reading pa lang, ibig sabihin pasok na lahat na amendments, both committee and individual amendments. This time around, approved on third reading, wala na yan, bicam na dapat yan. So I cannot really understand kung bakit may small group committee, which I am trying to clarify with Rep L-Ray kasi siya ang Deputy Speaker for finance.”
“Rep Villafuerte texted me a while ago, siyempre sabi niya, there’s no truth na may attempt. Sabi ko I stand by my sources. And hindi lang isang source because I make it a point na pag may information na dumating sa akin, I always look for a second validating information. Kasi mahirap yung isa lang ang source. Di pa siya sumasagot actually.”
“Hindi (si Rep Villafuerte) ang naging source (ko). Ang akala niya nga, ang lumabas kasi sa news ang nakarating sa kanya, siya ang promotor. So he was trying to explain himself, na he can swear on a stack of Bibles na hindi siya ang proponent ng tinatawag na large insertions. But sabi ko anyway water under the bridge kasi ang information, which also came from the House by the way, hindi naman ito sa labas na hindi nakakaintindi ng budget.”
On plan to still scrutinize budget even if the large insertion did not push through:
“Yes. Madali naman yan. We have also a copy of the NEP and it is easy to juxtapose, and i-matrix mo lang yan makita mo saan nagbago.”
“Sabi niya (Rep Villafuerte) we’ll transmit to you a HOR version of the budget that will even exceed your expectation. Yan ang kanyang commitment. I don’t know what he means by that. But we’ll just await the GAB 2 because that’s the HOR version.”
On Speaker Cayetano’s claim that congressmen want at least P500M per district:
“Yan nga. Narinig ko rin yan sa report ninyo. Kaya gumulo ng gumulo. While the Speaker himiself admitted na may request talaga na at least not lower than P500M ang nire-request, meron din sinabi na P1.6 or 1.5 for deputy Speakers. So yan ang medyo magulo. But kanina when I received the text message from Rep Villafuerte na sinabi ko rin sa kanya, anyway hindi naman tinuloy na rin dahil nga, alam mo, maraming mga mixed statements.”
“Like Rep Castro sabi niya as is where is ang NEP. Bakit sila nag-deliberate? Kung as is where is, exact replica ang kanilang GAB2 that will be transmitted to the Senate, ng NEP, ang President’s budget, anong dineliberate nila sa floor? Unless ang plano nila is, okay padala natin ang replica ng NEP na yan ang ating HOR version, then later on introduce nila ang amendment but when? Sa bicam? E lalong medyo sneaky yata yan di ba?”
“(After third reading), hindi na pwede mag-introduce ng amendments. I don’t know about their rules. But ang legislative process mismo pag third and final reading, that’s it. Bicam na yan. Second reading pa lang tapos na lahat.”
On confidence President Duterte will veto the pork items in the budget bill:
“We’re confident. Sinabi naman niya pag nakasilip ng pork he will veto.”
On making identities of ‘ninja cops’ public:
“It’s our call. Kasi nga meron kaming rules kami na fina-follow na kapag executive session, dapat 2/3 sa plenary ang mag-a-approve to make public the contents ng proceeds ng executive session. And we already adopted that yesterday so wala na ring magawa. But why would they not welcome it when the Senate in effect would be helping them identify the rogues in their ranks?”
“From what I know as I told you earlier, initial penalty imposed against those police officers dismissal from the service, but eventually it was commuted to suspension and demotion. So that particular, one of the officers was just demoted one rank. So ang worrisome dito, he’s still in the service. And kung ganoon ang kanyang record na nagre-recycle or nagpapa-ransom ng drug suspect, nariyan pa rin siya.”
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