Tag: 2025 budget

Statements, TV, Videos

Ping Lacson Questions Inequitable, Distorted Flood Control Allocations in 2025 Budget

Inequitable and distorted allocations for flood control projects are back in the national budget – and with a vengeance.

This was one of the initial findings of Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson in his scrutiny of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which he earlier noted had been mangled beyond recognition.

“We saw an item where a very small barangay in a small town received an appropriation of P1.9 billion. One small town got an appropriation of P10 billion. I will question if they can absorb that amount. Imagine, a P10-billion appropriation for a small town with 10,000 residents. It is an inequitable distribution of the budget,” Lacson said in Filipino in an interview on One News late Wednesday.

“I will seek clarification on this. What happened to the P10 billion appropriated to the small town? We saw that it is near a riverbank, but is it the only town with a riverbank? These appropriations are for flood control,” he added.

In Filipino: Ping Lacson, Kinwestyon ang ‘Inequitable, Distorted’ na Pondo ng Flood Control sa 2025 Budget

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Documents, PingBills, Statements

Ping Lacson Bill Institutes Public Participation in Budget Deliberations

To prevent a repeat of the mangling of the national budget especially behind closed doors, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson has filed a bill institutionalizing the participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the preparation of the national budget.

Lacson, in his bill, stressed anew the need for mechanisms that ensure that the entire budget process adheres to the principles of good governance, to assure Filipino taxpayers that their money is spent effectively and transparently.

“Specifically, this bill aims to institutionalize people’s participation in budget deliberations at various levels of government – national, provincial, municipal, and down to the barangay level. Without underestimating and undermining the capacities of elected representatives in crafting a budget that is needed by a particular locality, this bill gives full play to the people’s right to participate in all levels of social, political, and economic decision-making,” Lacson, who had filed similar bills in past Congresses, said in Senate Bill 32 or “An Act Institutionalizing the Participation of Civil Society Organizations in the Preparation and Authorization Process of the Annual National Budget, Providing Effective Mechanisms Therefor and for Other Purposes.”

“Furthermore, it institutionalizes people’s access to information with regard to how taxpayers’ money is being spent. In a way, this bill serves as our people’s safeguard against corruption through public oversight on how our taxes our being spent,” he added.

In Filipino: Panukalang Batas ni Ping Lacson, Titiyakin ang Pakikilahok ng Publiko sa Paghubog ng Badyet

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Statements, TV, Videos

Ping Lacson Starts Reviewing the Mangling of the 2025 Budget

Incoming Senator Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson, together with his prospective staff, have started taking a deep dive into how the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) or national budget was mangled, to prevent a possible similar butchering of the national budget bill for next year.

Lacson said they are reviewing how changes were made from the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to the versions of the budget bill in the House, Senate, and bicameral conference committee, all the way to the enrolled bill.

“We are juxtaposing the NEP, the House, Senate and bicameral versions of the bill, and the enrolled bill to see how the 2025 budget was mangled. We are looking at the NEP or President’s budget and what changes were made in the House version, the Senate version, and the bicam version,” he said in Filipino, in an interview on One News late Thursday.

In Filipino: Ping Lacson, Sinimulan ang Pag-Review sa Pagkalikot sa 2025 Budget

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Statements

On the President’s Call for Cabinet Secretaries’ Courtesy Resignations

More than recalibrating his administration by calling for the courtesy resignations of his Cabinet members, the President must exercise his “persuasive” powers over Congress, especially the House of Representatives, to get rid of indiscriminate and self-aggrandizing “insertions” and “pork barrel” in the forthcoming congressional deliberations of the 2026 budget measure.

The 2025 General Appropriations Act is like a deadly virus that is choking the country to perdition. With the President taking the lead in at least tempering the insatiable greed of some legislators, I vow to do my share in helping him come up with a national budget that is truly responsive to the people’s clamor for sanity and a little timidity among the members of Congress in addressing the needs of their constituents.

With the exception of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), eliminating all other forms of “ayuda” and integrating them under the 4Ps in the National Expenditure Program all the way to the Enrolled Bill should be a good start. As I have consistently posited – AKAP, AICS, TUPAD, MAIFIP and similar social services programs may be integrated under the 4Ps in compliance with RA 11310, which I intend to amend through a bill that I will file when I assume office as an elected Senator of the Republic.

It is time to give the Filipino people a chance to benefit more from the taxes that they pay out of their hard-earned money.

*****

Radio, Statements, Videos

Integrating Ayudas Under 4Ps Tops Ping Lacson’s Legislative Agenda

Integrating all forms of “ayuda” under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) program will top the legislative agenda of incoming Senator Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson in the 20th Congress.

Lacson said Monday that this is part of his push for good governance, along with an intensified scrutiny of the national budget bill, upon his return to the Senate.

“This early, I have instructed my prospective legislative staff to draft an amendment to Republic Act 11310, the law on the 4Ps program, to expand it and address the sectors covered by the other forms of ayuda that have become confusing and have become a political tool used by some politicians for their campaigns, both during and outside of the campaign period,” Lacson said in Filipino, in an interview on Bombo Radyo Philippines.

“Expanding the 4Ps will be better because the 4Ps has a data-driven list of beneficiaries; unlike other ayuda programs that are indiscriminate and are prone to duplication like TUPAD, AKAP, AICS and MAIP,” he added.

In Filipino: Integrated Ayuda sa Ilalim ng 4Ps, Isusulong ni Ping Lacson

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