Lacson: We have become a country of ‘ayudas’
BAGUIO CITY — Former senator Panfilo Lacson has joined public scrutiny into the country’s annual budgets that have allegedly enabled corruption, including allocations for short-term cash assistance supposedly manipulated by political leaders.
“We have become a country of ayudas (financial assistance or dole outs),” he said at a good governance caucus here on April 1, and called for changes to the way the government and legislators prepare the spending plan for national programs.
The government’s social amelioration programs in various agencies like Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap) were allotted P318.5 billion in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA), and P253.378 billion in this year’s GAA.
Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who took part in the caucus, has been a vocal critic of some legislators for allegedly controlling ayuda programs, and who had recently raised alarm about possible ayuda misuse in the run up to the May 12 midterm polls.
Malacañang pushed back last week, when Undersecretary Claire Castro of the Presidential Communications Office asked Magalong, a retired police director, to show proof.
The former senator said: “Lahat ng ayuda at dole outs (All financial assistance and dole outs) must be consolidated with 4Ps (the cash transfer for poor families facilitated through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) which is operated by law.”
Lacson noted that the cash aid programs have no beneficiary database nor are augmented with proper impact studies, citing allegations that beneficiary lists are submitted by congressional districts.
Rising national debt
He said the final version of budget laws are often outcomes generated by the Congressional Bicameral Committee (composed of representatives from the Senate and the House of Representatives from where budgets originate), which Lacson described as the “third and most powerful chamber especially [with regards to the] national budget.”
Controversies surrounding the current GAA arose because of changes allegedly made by a technical working group, he said, who should not have the authority to alter bicameral committee reports.
Lacson said his bigger concern with regards to the budget process is the national debt, which rose to P16.63 trillion this week from P16.05 trillion in 2024.
“The number one contributor [to the climbing debt] is corruption,” he added.
Magalong, who helped found the movement Mayors for Good Governance, linked corruption to the budgeting process.
During the caucus, he cited traditional reports that some legislators inject choice projects in order to take kickbacks. But the SOP (standard operating procedure or the euphemism for pay-offs) has changed since many lawmakers allegedly profit more from state projects due to their new ties with or their side jobs as government suppliers and contractors, Magalong claimed.
Lacson also said the budget process should change by requiring national budget officials to first study the priorities of local governments. Currently, local development councils finalize their project lists after the budget process has been completed.
He said the government needs to bridge this gap with barangays, towns, cities and provinces, and may account for delayed or re-appropriated funds.
Citing a study, Lacson said an average of P350 million in unused appropriations have been recorded from 2015 to 2020 because some agencies have not been prepared for projects selected by some lawmakers.
Lacson also pushed for a law that grants the Commission on Audit wider investigative powers to clamp down on corruption in the bureaucracy.
