Senators train sights on subsidies as Congress opens today

Congress opens today with senators training their sights on the subsidies being distributed by the government and other necessary measures to help the people cope with the rising prices of fuel, food and other basic commodities.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said yesterday President Arroyo could provide the necessary direction during her State of the Nation Address (SONA) and Congress could see to it that resources were being used effectively and judiciously.

“It is quite difficult to trust the administration in giving out subsidies because of its record, its reputation, we lose a lot of money because of irregularities. Just like the fertilizer scam, authorities are afraid to punish those responsible because they might spill the beans on the others involved,” Pangilinan said over dzBB.

“But this did not mean the Senate would not act on the necessary bills, particularly the budget, which would be deliberated starting September,” he added.

“We want to see direction, leadership being exercised. For purposes of being able to oversee, it is better if there is only one agency (distributing the subsidies). What is fearsome is that once the funds are disbursed, even if there are irregularities (you cannot get back the money). So for Congress, there should be a mechanism to be able to guard the funds,” Pangilinan said.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, for his part, said he would not want to hear a report card of achievements but policies tied with the budget especially with the current concerns.

Pangilinan said the subsidies reaching billions were such a huge amount and the people could not afford to be robbed at this time of fuel and food crises.

“We want to see the bottom line, the details of how programs are being implemented. And we are going to challenge the administration, if it’s quite difficult to monitor the distribution of P50 million, how can be sure that the billions are being spent correctly?” Pangilinan said.

Earlier, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. said the upper chamber could give way to the proposed measures to alleviate the plight of the people in this time of economic difficulties.

He said the proposal to reduce or scrap the value added tax on oil would be tackled to see how the public could benefit from it without depriving the government of the necessary revenues.