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MANILA, Philippines – The entire budget of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) could not be taken “hostage” by the resignation of an official, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Friday.
“We cannot sacrifice the entire budget for the retention or resignation of a government official assigned to PCOO,” Lacson said in an interview on the ABS-CBN news channel when asked for a comment on the matter.
“The entire budget cannot be held hostage,” he added.
On Wednesday, the House deliberations on the proposed budget of the PCOO were suspended “until further notice” when lawmakers denounced the red-tagging activities of PCOO Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy.
The Makabayan bloc, whose members were labeled by Badoy as “senior officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF),” also called for the resignation of the PCOO official.
But leaving a job, Lacson said, “is always a personal decision.”
“It depends on the person who is asked to resign, to resign. If he / she does not want to resign is his / her personal decision, ”said the senator.
“It’s up to [the House of Representatives] whether or not they will support the movement of the Makabayan bloc in the House ”, he added.
She won’t quit
Badoy previously rejected calls for her to resign, saying she shouldn’t be the one to leave office because she had never misled Filipinos.
“As for the representatives of the Makabayan bloc asking for my resignation, I would be very disappointed in myself and see it as an insufficiency in the performance of my job if they asked nothing less,” she said in a Facebook post.
“Also, I am not the one who has to resign because I have not deceived the Filipino people or done anything to hurt them. I come to the table with clean hands and a heart as pure as I can, ”he added.
KGA
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