The congressman’s fast approval of President Rodrigo Duterte’s P6 billion pesos 2018 budget for his office prompted Bayan Muna representative Carlos Zarate, who was unable to ask questions during the meeting to stress many concerns regarding its appropriations.
In an interview with reporters, Zarate asked “Is he using it in his bloody anti-drug war? Since there are atleast 10,000 drug suspects so far killed, at P10,000 per kill, the total amount of rewards would come up to between P100 million and P150 million. Those are very big sums. Where are they getting the money?”
Zarate also told reporters that Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles requested them to refrain from raising questions but mentioned that they were “allowed to do so during the plenary debates on the budget.”
As the president’s request for his P6 billion pesos budget was approved on Thursday, what also called the attention of many was the duration of the discussion that finished in about two minutes without further questioning, something Nograles claimed to be “a manifestation of the courtesy the house was extending to the president.”
(DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 08 / 26 / 17)