ACCOUNTABILITY
A ranking leader of the House of Representatives said that lawmakers will not relent in demanding accountability from Sen. Imee Marcos for her realignment of a whopping P13 billion from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the national budget to other government social amelioration programs.
“Wala ho tayong plano na tigilan itong sa 4Ps issue,” House Assistant Majority Leader and AKO BICOL Rep. Raul Angelo “Jill” Bongalon said, underscoring the significance of diverting funds that deprived 4.3 million poor Filipinos of cash aid.
Bongalon expressed dismay at the realignment of the funds for the 4Ps, describing it as “unfair and unreasonable.”
“Then again, ang pinaka-punto ho natin dito kasi is that, it would be unfair and unreasonable na i-slash mo ang budget ng isang programa at ilalagay mo sa ibang programa,” he said.
As a re-electionist senator, Bongalon said Sen. Marcos may have use for the realigned funds from the 4Ps allocation for political gains as she goes around the country.
“At ang masama pa ho dito eh nagagamit nya po sa kanyang pag-ikot. Siguro bilang, dahil sa re-eleksyonista si Senadora Imee, so ‘yun po ang ginagamit nya,” he declared.
He bared that the latest budget deficit for the 4Ps is now approximately P9 billion resulting from Sen. Marcos’s realignment of the funds intended for poor Filipinos in the 2023 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Bongalon said that had the realignment not taken place, it would have been sufficient to address the existing budget deficit of the 4Ps program. But it continues to deprive families of much-needed financial relief from the burdens of the rising cost of living.
Sen. Marcos herself made an admission of cutting the 4Ps budget by P13 billion as head of the Senate finance sub-committee responsible for the DSWD’s budget.
She said she realigned the funds to other DSWD programs such as supplemental feeding, Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services or KALAHI-CIDSS, Quick Response Fund for disasters, and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation or AICS.
Bongalon said this single act of realignment of P13 billion had a far-reaching impact on families who did not receive their 4Ps allocations.
AUTHOR PROFILE
‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’
