Velasco’s ally demands huge infrastructure funds established for the territory of Cayetanos

MANILA, Philippines – The two districts of Taguig-Pateros under President Alan Peter Cayetano and his wife, Representative Lani Cayetano, will receive a whopping P11.1 billion in infrastructure funding next year from the Department of Public Works and Highways ( DPWH), according to Negros Oriental representative Arnolfo Teves Jr.

“This amount is too large considering that in terms of population, Taguig-Pateros is only 6 percent of Metro Manila,” said Teves, an ally of Cayetano’s rival for House leadership, Marinduque representative Lord Allan Velasco. , at a Zoom press conference. Monday.

The items are allocated in the DPWH budget for its central office in Metro Manila and the district engineering office (DEO), Teves said, citing the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the precursor to the General Appropriations Bill of 2021 which is now being deliberated in the House of Representatives. Representatives.

Of the P25 billion in the public works budget for DPWH-National Capital Region (NCR) for next year, “a whopping P7.92 billion, or 38 percent, goes to Taguig-Pateros,” Teves told reporters.

More than 15 regions

What is most shocking, he said, was that the allocation for Taguig-Pateros “is higher than the DPWH funds allocated for each of the other 15 [of] the country.”

“The fund earmarked for Taguig-Pateros is larger than P7.26 billion for the entire Region 4A, or Calabarzon, which is the largest region after NCR,” Teves said.

“Meanwhile, only P1.39 billion has been reserved for Region 13, or Caraga. How is that fair and just? ” he said.

Under the 2020 budget, Teves said, Taguig-Pateros received infrastructure projects worth P10.03 billion, P7.12 billion from DPWH-NCR, and P2.19 billion from DEO. In contrast, Taguig-Pateros received only P2.4 billion and P3 billion in funding from the DPWH in 2018 and 2019, when Cayetano was not yet President, he said.

Responding through a speech broadcast on Facebook Live, Cayetano said Taguig-Pateros’ public works allocations soared due to a series of pending billions of pesos projects in his and his wife’s districts.

“The Bagong Diwa camp is here. The Southern Police District is here. Fort Bonifacio is here. The Senate will transfer here and the Supreme Court will also come here. There are so many works that are yet to come, ”Cayetano said in Filipino.

He said there were also large appropriations for rights-of-way purchases to clear the way for infrastructure projects.

Camp Velasco lies

Cayetano said that the accusations against him were lies sold by Velasco’s side “to confuse and provoke jealousy” among members of the Chamber.

Teves’ allegations were a follow-up to his previous charges that Cayetano and his selected allies would be cornering a large chunk of public works funding in the 2021 budget, stoking unrest in the House.

Teves’ earlier accusations sparked the House leadership feud, with Cayetano and Velasco openly attacking each other despite a shared term agreement.

According to the agreement negotiated by President Rodrigo Duterte in July 2019, Cayetano would serve as president for the first 15 months of the XVIII Congress, and Velasco will assume office for the remaining 21 months.

However, the dispute over the budget and other internal issues could derail the leadership rotation on October 14.

On Sunday, the Velasco camp claimed it had secured the backing of a majority of House members for the presidency, but Cayetano’s allies on Monday sought to poke holes in that superior force projection, arguing that the representative’s supporters de Marinduque were only increasing their numbers. “To the point of counting the vote of a dead congressman.”

Vice Presidents Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. and Dan Fernández issued separate statements mocking Mindoro Oriental representative Salvador Leachon and Buhay representative Lito Atienza that Velasco had already won about 160 votes in the 300-member House of Representatives.

Backing 190

“All this lie will surely reach them at some point, especially since we already have 190 real, real and living members who have reaffirmed their support for the Speaker, and at least 30 more who have indicated that they will support Speaker Cayetano.” Villafuerte said.

The Camarines Sur legislator also mocked Velasco’s allies for allegedly adding the senior representative Francisco Datol Jr., who died of COVID-19 in August, in the count of legislators from the list of parties that are now in his fold.

“What’s even worse is that they still tell Representative Datol that he passed away last [August] among those who[m] They say they will vote for Velasco, ”Villafuerte said.

Leachon and Atienza said Sunday that Velasco could count on the support of the Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan Party (PDP-Laban), the party’s list bloc and the Popular Nationalist Coalition.

On the other hand, Cayetano has the backing of his Nationalist Party, along with the National Unity Party, Lakas-CMD, the Liberal Party and the minority bloc.

But Fernández said the numbers don’t add up as some PDP-Laban de Velasco members, including Vice Presidents Johnny Pimentel and Aurelio Gonzales Jr., voted to reject the resignation of the incumbent president and signed a manifesto supporting his continued leadership. INQ

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