Duterte accuses Romualdez, House of 'controlling' govt budget

The Manila Times

Duterte accuses Romualdez, House of 'controlling' govt budget  Vice President Sara Duterte accuses Speaker Martin Romualdez and House of Representatives' appropriations committee chief, Rep. Elizaldy Co, of allegedly 'controlling' the budget of the government, citing Duterte's experience in handling the budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was its secretary. The vice president has since resigned from her post. Duterte made the allegations during her appearance at the House to present the budget of the OVP on Sept. 4, 2024.   Video from OVP Communications  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net     Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook   Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram   Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter   DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion     Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital Sign up to our newsletters: https://tmt.ph/newsletters    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify   Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts   Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic   Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #themanilatimes  #philippines #duterte

Transcript

00:00The budget of the Philippines is only held by two people.

00:04It is held by Congressman Zaldico and Congressman Martin Romualdez.

00:10That is the truth.

00:13My example here, this is a bit long, so please excuse me.

00:18My example here, let's go to DepEd first.

00:23In the Department of Education, in 2023,

00:305 billion was approved for classroom construction.

00:37I was surprised because there were members of the House who asked for the 5 billion,

00:47part of the 5 billion budget.

00:49I don't have experience with that.

00:53And my understanding is that once the Office of the President approves it,

00:58it will be given to the Department of Education for the construction of classrooms.

01:07I was surprised.

01:08Someone asked,

01:10how much do we have there, how much do we have there?

01:14So I said,

01:16this cannot be.

01:19Because what will happen is that the Department of Education will not be able to construct classrooms

01:27according to the classroom backlog and prioritization based on the backlog and classroom construction.

01:37So I told a congressman,

01:40tell Martin Romualdez,

01:43that the classroom construction of 5 billion cannot be cut.

01:48So if you will see,

01:50in the budget proposal approved by the Office of the President,

01:55that is 5 billion.

01:56But when GAA came out, or the budget approved in 2023,

02:02it became 15 billion.

02:05Because I did not agree to take the 5 billion,

02:11they added 10 billion to the classroom construction of the Department of Education.

02:19That 10 billion is not controlled by the Department of Education.

02:25It is controlled by Congressman Zaldico and Congressman Martin Romualdez.

02:33I don't need a corroborative witness here anymore.

02:37Because you will see that in the paper.

02:40People will see that in the paper.

02:435 billion, the budget approved, 15 billion.

02:48When we got to the Senate,

02:51the Senators saw that.

02:53They asked the Department of Education,

02:56Is it true, or not true,

03:00that the list of 17 billion classroom construction came from you?

03:07So we told the Senators,

03:09it is not true.

03:10We cannot do our job.

03:13We cannot solve the classroom backlog if this is what is happening.

03:18Can you help us?

03:22The Senators were very helpful.

03:25Yes, we will help you.

03:27So if you will see in the interpellation of a Senator in the budget hearing in the Senate,

03:34he asked directly,

03:36did the list of 17 billion come from the Department of Education?

03:40Did the list attached to the House version come from the Department of Education?

03:49We said no.

03:51It did not come from us.

03:53It is on record.

03:55You will see it in the videos.

03:57Go back to the videos.

03:59You will see it.

04:01That is why I don't need a witness anymore.

04:03Because you will see it in the paper.

04:07Then the BICAM came.

04:10Nothing happened.

04:12Because the ones who followed were

04:15Congressman Zaldico and Congressman Martin Romualdez.

04:22That is why the list of 17 billion made by Romualdez and me is still attached.

04:30In fact, I will just go back to you for a while.

04:34Even the congressmen,

04:37they can see the problem of attaching the list to the budget.

04:46Because in the Basic Education Hearing in May 2024 of the House of Representatives,

04:53there was a congressman who complained,

04:55why is it taking so long for the classroom construction?

05:00Why is it taking so long?

05:02The USEC of the DepEd said,

05:04because there are changes in the list of DPWH because we did not make the list.

05:11So I will just add that to the confirmation that they got the budget of DepEd.

05:21And that is one of the reasons why I resigned from the Department of Education.

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