Villafuerte decries budget cuts in CamSur’s infra projects

Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte decried Friday the P386-million budget cut for his province’s infrastructure projects under the House-approved version of the proposed P4.5-trillion 2021 national budget.

Confirming Senator Panfilo Lacson’s claim that allies of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano received budget cuts, Villafuerte said budgets for the following projects were slashed:

ADVERTISEMENT
  • P182 million budget for the CamSur Expressway, a 15-kilometer, four-lane road with waterways, bike lanes, and sidewalks that will serve as an alternate route for motorists going to the eastern and southern municipalities and of those going to Sorsogon and Albay provinces
  • P124 million for the CamSur-Albay Diversion Road, a 61.90-km road project that will decongest the main road from the province to Albay and
  • P80 million for the Pasacao-Balatan Tourism Highway, a 40.69-km, four-lane coastal road along the province’s west coast that will serve as an access road to tourism sites

Villafuerte said these projects were all under the government’s Build, Build, Build program for CamSur and approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Villafuerte decries budget cuts in CamSur’s infra projects

“If the current House leadership claims to be fully supportive of the Duterte administration, why has it slashed the DPWH outlays in the House-endorsed General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for three of the flagship projects in Bicol that were approved by the NEDA Board chaired by the President himself?” Villafuerte asked.

He then called on the Senate to “keep tabs on the actual allocations of all congressional districts” during the bicameral conference committee meetings.

ADVERTISEMENT

“In light of suspicions that more unwarranted budget cuts are forthcoming as a way to increase the infrastructure outlays for the districts of representatives closely identified with the current House leadership,” Villafuerte said.

Meanwhile, Taguig Representative Alan Cayetano accused lawmakers of rushing him out of office as Speaker of the House of Representatives after allegedly increasing their funding for their projects in 2021.

“Hindi ko pa nakikita ‘yung Bicam [report] pero definitely maraming nadagdagan ng pondo from the NEP to the GAB. So ‘yung pong mga maingay laban sa akin, between P300 million to P1 billion nadagdagan na sila from the House to the Senate. Kaya pala atat na atat na nung October 14 na before that, mag-takeover,” Cayetano said at a learning hub gathering in Taguig City.

ADVERTISEMENT