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'Favored contractors" who pre-
naturelywon government con-
racts by advancing billions of
)esos in commissions to public
)fficials now want their money
rack, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolan-
lo ADdayaJr. said on Monday.
The chair ofthe House appro-
)riations committee made the
lisclosure to raise the pressure
,n Budget Secretary Benjamin
)iokno, whom he had accused,
Llong with Cabinet Secretary
iarlo Nograles, of trying to re-
tore ry5 billion in public works
rrojects in the 2019 budget to
appease" contractors who had
lready paid ro percent to 20 per-
ent in kickbacks to proponents.
Contractors upset
Andaya said the contracts,
yorth billions of pesos, fell
hrough when the Senate and
he House of Representatives
leleted P75 billion that the De-
artment of Budget and Man-
gement (DBM) "inserted" into
he zorg spending bill and re-
aligned the funds to the law-
makers' own proiects.
"Contractors who alrcady
paid commissions for the P75-
billion infrastructure projects
inserted by the frBM Jintol the
NEP (Natioqal l,:xpenditure Pro-
gram) are upset that their cash
advances will be put to naught,"
Andaya said in a statement.
He, however, did not identi$/
any of the contractors, whom he
described as "favored" in his ex-
changes with Diokno in Decem-
ber last year during the contro-
versy over pork that delayed ap-
proval of the P3.8-trillion budget
requested by President Duterte.
The Senate and the House
ratified the spending program
last week after resolving dis-
putes over each other's amend-
ments to the measure,
They agreed, among other
things, to delete the entire P75
billion allegedly added by the
DBM to the budget of the De-
partment of Public Works and
Highways (DPWH) without the
knowledge of Public Works Sec-
retary Mark villar.
Andaya earli{r alleged that
Lacson said.
-'
"The only way we can go
against it is to override the veto
by two-thirds vote, which is al-
most impossible because that
has never happened in the two
chambers," he said.
Diokno on Monday swatted
aside Andaya's claim as "baseless,
premature and irresponsible."
The budget chief said
Congress had not yet submitted
the approved spending program
MONEY BACK NOT GUARANTEED Camarines Sur Rep. to MalacaRang.
Rolando Andaya Jr. (left) says the contracts fell through after "Our job is to provide the
Congress deleted the P75-billion pork from the budget. Budget President the facts and options so
Secretary Benjamin Diokno (right) says the President has no he can exercise his constitutional
authority to restore the deleted fund. duty to act on the budget bill once
it arives on his desk, including
the option to exercise his line-
those projects would benefit the restoration in the Supreme item veto power," Diokno said.
Diokno's relatives, a charge the Court should Diokno and No- "lf the congressional
budget chief qu ickly denied. grales succeed. amendment is an improvement
On Sunday, Anddyd claimed over the President's proposal,
lhat Diokno ar)d Nograles were Congress can't do much we will propose adoption, oth-
orchestrating the restoration of Lacson on Monday said erwise we propose line-iterlrve-
the P75 billion through presi- Congress could do nothing to," he said.
dential veto of the congression- much if the P75 billion would be
al changes. restored. No power to restore
Sena- "That's within the constitu-
He said he would join Diokno called "unnecessary
tors Panfilo Lacson and tional Iauthorityl of the Presi- speculation" Andaya's charge
Franklin Drilon in challenging dent. We cannot question it," that Mr. Duterte could re$tore
the P75 billion deleted by
Congress.
"The President can veto par-
ticular line items in the budget,
but he cannot introduce new
items or bring back items that
have already been deleted by
Congress," Diokno said.
The deleted funds were re-
aligned to other items proposed
by senators or representatives.
So far, neither chamber has
not released information nam-
ing the projects to be funded
from theP75 billion.
Echoing a claim earlier made
by Lacson, Andaya said it was
true that the DBM had already
been peddling the P75 billion
worth ofproiects to contractors
across the country in exchange
for commissions to proponents.
"The amount of commission
asked by proponents, however,
ranges from 10 percent to 20
percent per project, according
to my sources," Andaya said
without identifying the sources
or the project proponents,
-l^lIIH REPORTS FROM MARION
FAMOS, NESTOT CORRALES AND BEN
O. DE VERA INQ

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