A,beffiani[aWinrcg
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ITHREATENS FROM A1
Andaya
controversial P75 billion in the.
final print of the 20i9 Ceneral
Appropriaiions Act, hence a veto
message which he and Diokno
may have prepared should be
elevated to the Supreme Court
(SC) for some clarifications in
line items.
'ln case the two Cabinet mem-
bers succeed in this evil scheme
ofvetoing the 2019 GAB (General
lNews M0NDAY February
'i1,
2019
Andaya
threatens to
bring budget
issue before SC
C"A.BINET Secretary Karlo Nograles should
be wary in crafting lresident Rodrigo
Dutert€'s veto or rejection of pork barrel
insertions in the newly ratified 201 9 budget
measure amid his alleged conspiracy rith
Budget SecreuryBenjamin Diokno, House
appropriations panel chairman Rolando
Andaya h wamed over the weekend.
Andaya, who described Nograles as "the
new spokesperson" for Diokno, said the
Department of Budget and lvl4nagement
(DBM) continues its moves to restore tle
)ThreatensA2
Appropriations Bill) to restore the gram was "a conspiracy between questionable allocations.
P75-billion insertion, I will ioin the DBM and the pievious House Nograles said that Duterte was
Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. leadership. " prepared to use his veto to ensure
[Franklin] Drilon in questioning
the veto message before the Su-
Lacson and Drilon, who voted
against the spending bill, said the
"clean" items in the budget,
He previously defended Dio-
preme Court " he added. . P3.757-trillion national budget, kno ftom lawmakers' accusations
"My unsolicited advice to Cabi which now awaits Duterte's ap- against the Budget chief.
net Secretary Karlo Nograles, prornl, would test the latter's politi- The House and Senate agreed
the new spokesperson of DBM cal will in removing pork insertions. to realign the P75-billion "DBM
Secretary lBeniamin] Diokno: Be Diokno has been facing allega- pork" before they ratified the bud-
careful with the crafting ofthe veto tions ofbeing responsible for vari- get measure on Friday.
rnessage for itwill just lead back to ous budget inegularities. After both chambers made the
where it all started," Andaya said. Minority Leader Danilo Suarez correction, Andaya claimed that
He echoed a statement of Lac- said the Budget chiefwas still not Diokno and Nograles were "back
son that the P75-billion insertion off the hook for repeatedly snub- in the drawing board" to restore it
in the National Expenditure Pro- bing House hearings on DBM's via a veto message. GLEE JALEA
\\ fPoI.'T PAE€,