Tag: 1987 Constitution

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Lacson: Exposing Attempts to Sneak Pork into Budget Part of Patriotic Duty

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Exposing attempts to sneak “pork” into the national budget is part of a patriotic duty to ensure good governance through the proper spending of Filipino taxpayers’ money, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said.

Lacson said that as a lawmaker, it is his job to thwart attempts by some solons to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling declaring “pork” as unconstitutional, lest public money is lost to corruption and incompetence.

“If by exposing all attempts by some lawmakers to go around the Supreme Court ruling declaring pork as unconstitutional, thus stymieing the selfish interests of those elected to perform their legislative duty, I’ll be able to sleep soundly at night knowing that I’ve done my share in guarding against unnecessary wastage of public funds that has prevented our country from taking off and become competitive,” he said.

“My critics would claim I am just making a lot of noise but I do not let such negative comments affect, much less stop me. This is my biggest advocacy because the budget is the lifeblood of the nation. If this blood is taken away, the nation may suffer from anemia, or even a stroke,” he added.

Related: Ping sa Pork: Makakatulog na Ako nang Mahimbing, Nabantayan Ko ang Badyet
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On the House Leadership’s Shameless Disrespect for the 2019 National Budget

The 2019 national budget is doomed, but not to our own liking.

I will raise a big legal issue before my colleagues in the Upper House out of this latest scheme that our Lower House counterparts led by their Speaker is resorting to, in order to manipulate the ratified bicameral committee report.

Based on information shared by several members of the House of Representatives themselves, and I completely agree, among the other manipulations being undertaken by the House leadership on the ratified bicameral report prior to the printing and enrollment of the budget measure, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has no business or legal authority to prepare and impose the menu list of the Department of Health appropriations for Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) worth PhP25 million in individual allocations for her favored congressmen, including a PhP2.5-million allocation for the purchase of an ambulance; while only PhP8 million are being distributed to those who did not support her election as Speaker.

Worse, exercising this latest brazen, illegal act after the bicameral committee report has been adopted and ratified by both houses smacks of grave abuse of discretion on the part of Speaker Arroyo, not to mention a clear violation of the 1987 Constitution, specifically Art VI Sec 26 paragraph 2, thus:

“… Upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereto shall be allowed …”

I maintain, and I trust that majority of my colleagues in the Senate will agree, that such realignments ordered by Speaker Arroyo prior to the printing of the proposed 2019 budget is clearly unconstitutional and inappropriate.

Needless to say, and it is basis in our legislative process that the House as a body has the sole power to make the amendments, not the Speaker, and certainly not after the ratification of the bicameral report.

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Ping: Utang ng sundalo sa sambayanan ang tinatamasa nila

Sa sambayanan may utang ang mga sundalo sa mga biyayang tinatamasa ng mga ito kapalit ng pagiging tapat sa Saligang Batas at tamang pagtupad sa mga tungkulin na nakaatang sa kanilang balikat.

Ito ang binigyang-diin ni Senador at dating Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Panfilo Lacson bilang pagpapaalala na produkto ng sama-samang pagtatrabaho ng mga mambabatas ang mga batas na nalilikha para sa kapakinabangan ng iba’t-ibang sangay ng pamahalaan kabilang na ang sandatahang lakas.

Ayon pa kay Lacson, maliwanag na naman umano na ang mga senador ay halal ng taumbayan kaya lumalabas na ikinakatawan lamang ng mga ito ang sambayanan sa sa paghinang ng mga batas.

Related: Lacson: AFP owes allegiance to Filipino people
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Lacson, May Mala-Pederalismo na Panukala na Walang Cha-Cha

Hindi man matuloy ang Charter Change, siguradong makakamit pa rin ang mithiin na isinusulong ng Duterte administration sa ilalim ng pederalismo, sa pamamagitan ng panukala ni Senador Panfilo Lacson.

Nakapaloob na kasi sa Senate Bill 40 na tinaguriang Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment (BRAVE) at isinulong ni Lacson kasabay ng pagbukas ng kasalukuyang Kongreso ang halos lahat ng mithiin ng pederalismo.

🔈Pakinggan ang paliwanag ni Sen. Lacson sa BRAVE

Pangunahing nilalaman ng BRAVE bill ni Lacson ang direktang pagbibigay ng pondo sa mga lokal na pamahalaan upang mapondohan ng mga ito ang mga proyektong kailangan nila base sa personal na obserbasyon sa mga nasasakupan.

Related: Lacson: BRAVE to meet federalism goals without need to amend the Constitution

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On the House Pushing Through with Amending the Constitution Without the Senate

For their own sake, they should not allow themselves to look pathetic and worse, ridiculous. Having said that, they should read the 1987 Constitution in its entirety, or at the very least, Art XVII, Sec. 1 (Amendments or Revisions) in relation to Art VI Sec. 1 (Legislative Department) that explicitly refers to “the Congress” as the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Interpreting “the Congress” under Art XVII to refer to one chamber only is at best, self-serving. They pride themselves as lawyers in good standing but it only takes a layman who knows how to read and understand simple words and literature in order to appreciate what is right and wrong.

As for questioning the House’s move before the Supreme Court, there is need, and we will not. They can propose amendments or revision all they want but at the end of the day, a plebiscite would necessitate an item in the General Appropriations Act to be appropriated for the Commission on Elections to conduct such plebiscite.

Without the Senate, how can such appropriation materialize?

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