pork barrel claims
By Ryan Ponce
Pacpaco
AN independent anti-
pork barrel congreseman
has admonislied Sen.
Panfi lo'?int'' Lacson for
making Eweeping state-
ments about the alleeed
insertions of pork ba"rrel
by the House of Repre-
sentatives in the pro- pork in my first mohth
posed 2020 P4.r tri ion Congress,"denouncing
national budget.
Buhay Hayaaag Yum-
abong (BulDy) partvlist
nep. Lito ati-enza, a'n in- - also comrnitted
dependentlawrnakerwho ing our
isagainst pork barrel,said
Lacson should be fair to there is pork
the members of the House
of Represmtatives, espe- I have noteven
cially with his failurd to ther," said Atienza,
substantiate his allega-
tlons.
"We are appealing to
Senator Lacspn, huwag
mongipiJitna merongporl
barelngayorl If youhave
any proof of this, ! as a
commihed arti-pork bar-
wili help you
rel legislator,
prevent it. You're clalm-
ingP1.5 billion per deDutv
speaker and pi00 mijlo;
per legislator. I feel
slighted. I am a leqisla-
tor," Atignza, a cons-tnrc-
tive critic of Spealer A lan
Peter Cayeta'no, pointed
out.
Atienzarecalled thathe
was among those who
stood against the pork
barrel scam allegedlv inas-
terminded bv-busines*
woman Jandt Lim Na-
poles.
"We Ioughr Napoles'
in
iL
even mon[hs before the
Supteme
Court
decision. Likevou.weare
to ieform-
legislative
processes. You insistthat
barrel, when
you havenoteven read it,
resd if lq-.
refer-
ng to drc national budeet
that was passed last Sjo-
tember 20 by the House bf
Represett tatives a.nd trars-
mitted .to the Senate on
October 2.
To avoid fakenews arld
rumors, Atienza asked
Lacson to help each other
in their fight ;gainst pork
ba-rrel.
"Let's provide each
other inforiration so that
we can.coordinate. I do
mind when Congress is
accused in a blanket
marner. People are urt-
necessarily alarmed
with-
out reason. It is not fair
for those who are trvinq
their best to Derform [he;
patriotic iask," said
Atienza.
Anakalususan Dartv-
iist Rep. Mike"DefensJr,
who chairs dre House
committee public ac-
counts, said the House
leadership has been urg-
ing S€nate President Vic;-
nte "Tito"Sotto III to en-
sure that all senato$ will
observe the time-honored
inter-parliamentary cour-
tesy during the con-tinuecl
budget disiussions, esoe-
cially against the spr6ad
of gossip and fake riews.
Defensor pointed out
that gossip and fake news
are not palt of their legis_
lativework-
"We hope that the Sen-
ate leadershjp being an
i-nstitution thatwelooik up
.
to wiil deba te alld ensur'e
thatits collective member-
ship will keep the time-
honored in terlparliamen -
tary corutesy," Defensor
stressed following the un-
substantiated 4alleeadons
by Lacson. pqie,f