Miriam wants P800-M CEZA budget vetoed by Noy

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants President Aquino to veto an item in the proposed 2014 budget appropriating over P800 million for the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

In a letter, Santiago asked Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to recommend a presidential veto for the P890,886,000, which she deems illegal and immoral.

“This appropriation is extravagant, because other economic zones receive much less. The neighboring Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority will get between P300 million to P350 million,”  Santiago said.

The CEZA was created through a law when Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile was a member of the House of Representatives.

Santiago said the allocation for CEZA will just become Enrile’s pork barrel. “This amount is unconstitutional, wanton and unconscionable,” she said.

It would become a lump sum, subject to Enrile’s discretion, she added.  

Santiago said giving P800 million to CEZA is “dystopic,” since the government has to beg or borrow funds for post-disaster relief and rehabilitation of areas leveled by Super Typhoon Yolanda. “And in the midst of this apocalypse, Enrile insisted that the budget should give over P800 million to his home province of Cagayan, to construct what he insists will be a so-called deeper navigation channel for Port Irene,” she said. “His tunnel vision of the national landscape defies all legality and all morality.”

From 2008 to 2013, CEZA received a total of P5.1 billion without giving any significant contribution to the economy or the national treasury, she added.

Santiago raised the following questions: What has CEZA done with the P5.1 billion from 2008 to 2013? What has been the CEZA output? What has CEZA contributed to the economy? What has it contributed to the national coffers?

“Hence, if all else fails, I humbly recommend that it would be appropriate for DBM to recommend that President Aquino should veto this anomalous item in the 2014 budget,” she said.