Chiz: Deception By Insertion

Sen. Chiz Escudero said, the stimulus fund package culled from the 2009 budget could be used for other purposes beneficial to the administration through insertions.

"That’s why I have always touted the impor-tance of transparency and even triple checking so that we will not be deceived by such terms like ‘double budgeting’ or ‘insertion’," Escudero said in a statement.

"It is important to know who inserted what and how much to prevent wastage and determine culpability for any misappropriation," he added.
Escudero noted that by vetoing the transparency provision in the P1.415-trillion budget, President Arroyo’s administration is no longer required to give a breakdown of lump sum allotments to different agencies.

"Now that the 2009 budget is passed, we should be more vigilant to prevent scams and shenanigans involving the use of government funds," he said. The government said, the stimulus fund package of at least P50 billion is designed to enable the country to ride out the global economic crunch.

Escudero questioned the lack of discussions on the proposal, since some of the funds for the package were taken from the executive department’s budget.

"We have seen the creation of the Property Development Assistance Fund that primarily included the diversion of almost P20 billion in proposed spending for debt services and agrarian reform to increase allocations for public works, local governments and Congress.

"We have to remember that this is an election year. And worse, it might also be a cha-cha year. We have more than enough reasons to make sure that this budget is spent for the right reasons," Escudero said.

ON CHIP TSAO’S APOLOGY

The government should make a negative example of Chip Tsao by pursuing the filing of a damage suit despite his purported apology. Let us also be reminded by his racist diatribe of the graver problems confronting our heroines in Hong Kong. These are:

1) The 127 Filipinos, 94 of them women are languishing in Hong Kong jails as of the last report of the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Senate.
2) Our consulate in HK needs more personnel to attend to the welfare and distress calls of 157,000 Filipinos there.
3) The current assistance fund for Filipinos there is sorely insufficient to provide aid and succor to Filipinos.
It is not enough for the government to ride on the crest of the tempest generated by one unfounded insult. Indignities more painful than what was caused by the wholesale slander of our people need to be addressed as well.

ON RISING OIL PRICES

We should start exploring alternative and innovative ways of providing cheaper fuel through research and development. I urge the oil companies to invest on this as a public service to their customers and make it an essential part of their corporate social respon-sibility agenda. /MP