Lacson to head blue ribbon panel again
With his return to the Senate blue ribbon committee as its chair, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said he would look into farm-to-market roads, “ayuda” (assistance) programs and other beneficiaries of the P255.5 billion realigned for flood works in the 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Lacson said part of the realignments also went to the Health Facility Enhancement Program that funds the Super Health Centers.
“Much of the realignments went to farm-to-market roads. The question is, is the list of such roads from the Department of Agriculture or from congressmen?” Lacson said.
“Some ayuda programs are to be funded by unprogrammed appropriations. We intend to uproot these and return them to the regular budget,” he added.
Lawmakers’ funds
The blue ribbon panel chief said he will move to consolidate funds for “ayuda” and social services under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a program that will vet and provide qualified families with livelihood and education.
He also pushed for the realignment of some P2 billion for the “Tulong Dunong” scholarship program of lawmakers to the Free Tertiary Education Act.
Lacson said he already discussed with Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian the consolidation of funds for Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients to Universal Health Care. This will remove from lawmakers the “burden” of issuing guarantee letters as the Department of Health will now determine what assistance to provide needy patients.
“Our work as lawmakers is to legislate and exercise oversight, not to implement laws,” he said.
“Let’s make our programs systematic, and not whimsical, arbitrary and patronage-based,” he stressed.
‘Alien, turo-turo’ items
On Tuesday, Lacson said the Senate will move to strike out “alien” and “turo-turo” items—along with unprogrammed appropriations not tied to foreign-assisted projects—from the 2026 budget bill which it will start tackling next week.
He said “alien” refers to items not in the disagreeing provisions of the Senate and House versions of the budget bill, while “turo-turo” refers to whimsical, arbitrary and patronage-based programs.
‘Pleasure of my peers’
Meanwhile Senate President Vicente Sotto III expressed confidence that he would still keep his post even with Lacson’s return as head of the blue ribbon panel.
Sotto noted that “our colleagues also want him [back as blue ribbon chair].”
“And if ever there is [unrest], no problem with that. I always serve at the pleasure of my peers. Maybe being a senator is much easier than being [the chamber’s top] official,” he said.
Last month, Lacson announced he would resign as committee chair after his colleagues expressed “disappointment” with his handling of the inquiry into flood control projects.
Lacson had vowed to go where the evidence points as some of his colleagues were now being implicated in the flood works controversy.
Some sectors viewed his previous departure as a sign of an “unstable” Senate and a bid to “appease his majority colleagues” so that Sotto’s presidency could be “preserved.”
Lacson is set to be reelected committee chair next week.
Meeting with Romualdez
Sotto also said he may meet with former House Speaker Martin Romualdez possibly to invite him to the committee’s next hearing.
“I’ve already set up a meeting. It might be later or tomorrow. Within the next few days, we’ll be able to talk,” the Senate leader said.
