ESTRADA, VILLANUEVA NOT CLEARED OF BUDGET INSERTION ROW – LACSON

SENATE President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson  on Thursday night stressed that allowing Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada to face their accusers does not mean they are cleared from the issue of millions of pesos in insertions in the General Appropriations Acts (GAAs) for 2023 and 2025..

“By any measure, Senators Villanueva and Estrada have not been cleared, at least on the issue of budget insertions involving infrastructure projects in Bulacan worth P600M and P355M respectively, as alleged by engineer Brice Hernandez,” Lacson said.

At Thursday’s hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee, Lacson said P600 million supposedly for flood control projects in Bulacan was found in the Unprogrammed Fund under the 2023 GAA, which Hernandez earlier linked to Villanueva.

Villanueva had denied the allegation.

Lacson noted the P600 million was culled from documents provided by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian contained in the slides.

Hernandez had pointed out during Thursday’s hearing that Villanueva’s alleged flood control projects came from unprogrammed funds in the 2023 GAA.

“There are seven to eight items worth P75 million each, exactly P600 million,” Lacson said, but told Hernandez he had a “selective memory” as he could not answer Lacson’s other questions.

“I’m telling you, hindi pwedeng selective dito. ‘Pag nangako kang magsasabi ng totoo sabihin mo di lang kung convenient (I’m telling you, you cannot be selective here. If you promise to tell the truth, it must be the whole truth, not what’s convenient for you,” he told Hernandez.

Lacson said his office found in the regular budget of the 2025 GAA the P355 million in infrastructure projects in Bulacan that Hernandez linked to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.

Estrada similarly denied Hernandez’s allegations.

Lacson said he allowed the two senators to take part in the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing because it is a person’s basic right to face his accuser.

“It is a person’s basic right to confront his accuser. In case you didn’t notice, I did not clear the two senators on the issue of budget insertions because the budget books validate Brice Hernandez’s allegations based on my own staff’s research, at least in the case of Sen. Estrada,” said Lacson.

“Every person, ordinary or senator, has equal rights. I actually consulted my legal staff before making that decision to allow them. On the other hand, the two senators have not been cleared of the budget insertions under the 2023 and 2025 GAA’s. I made that very clear today,” he added.