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MANILA,
Sept. 30 (PNA) -– In the wake of the controversy on “congressional
insertions”, the Senate on Monday agreed to announce to the public the
amendments of senators in the 2008 national budget.
This,
after administration senator Manuel Roxas II pushed for a motion to
publish the amendments made by all senators for the sake of
transparency.
Finance
committee chairman Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said his committee will
publish all the amendments in concurrence with the other senators.
"I
will assume full responsibility of all amendments I made and the
committee. In this matter we’ll let the public judge the amendments,"
he said during the hearing this morning.
The
Senate’s finance and Public Works committees conducted the joint
hearing to investigate the irregularities in the budget allocation for
the construction of the C-5 Road Extension in Paranaque, renamed
President Carlos P. Garcia Avenue Extension, from the South Luzon
Expressway to Sucat Road.
Enrile
said his committee wants to clarify once and for all the infrastructure
project’s total cost as to have enough basis on opposition senator
Panfilo Lacson’s accusation against embattled Senate Pres. Manuel
Villar Jr.
Two
weeks ago, in his privilege speech, Lacson said the P200 million budget
allocations for the C-5 road extension project and the Carlos P. Garcia
Avenue project were two same projects.
Roxas’
motion was similar to that of his colleague, feisty senator
Miriam-Defensor Santiago who made the challenge even before Roxas made
the motion.
“Kung
wala silang kasalanan, sabihin nila pangalan nila. Sabi ni (senator)
Pimentel walang masama dito… ang masama ginagawang mahiwaga ito. I
appeal to our colleagues come out and tell the public how many earmarks
and what was it for,” Santiago said.
Roxas’
motion was favored by opposition senators Lacson, Juan Miguel Zubiri,
Jamby Madrigal, Loren Legarda, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada and
administration senators Enrile, Pia Cayetano and Francis Pangilinan.
(PNA) |