Lacson set to elevate to SC case vs 2016 national budget

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – Former Senator Panfilo Lacson said he will file a case at the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the country’s 2016 national budget, for allegedly having allocations from the “pork barrel fund.”

Lacson, speaking before the 68th induction and charter day celebration of the Rotary Club of Tacloban last August 16, at the Leyte Park Hotel in this city, said he has enough evidences to support his case before the High Court against the inclusion of the priority development assistance fund or the disbursement acceleration fund in next year’s national budget.

He said he will ask the SC to prohibit the implementation in the budget of either the PDAF or the DAP, funds that were already declared un-constitutional.

“Mind you, we have solid basis in the form of documents, transcripts and photographs in our position to prove that PDAF and DAP are alive and kicking,” Lacson told the Rotarians during his speech.

The inclusion of PDAF and DAP showed how public servants have the guts to transgress the law, not to give benefit to the public but to protect their personal interests, said Lacson.

The former senator had called on government officials to emulate the Rotarians who have been dedicating their lives to serve the community.

Lacson, also a former presidential assistant for Yolanda recovery and rehabilitation, cited the Rotary Club of Tacloban, led by its assistant governor Joel Caminade and president Joseph Escalona, for setting aside their businesses and worked to help rebuild the communities devastated by Yolanda, while assisting in the relief distribution to the survivors.

Meanwhile, Escalona, during the same event, conferred a citation to Tabon-Tabon (Leyte) town Councilor Nestor Abrematea for “invaluable services” that helped the success of the programs and projects of the Rotary Club of Tacloban, the oldest and mother of all Rotary Clubs in Tacloban and in Eastern Visayas.

Abrematea, an active member of the Rotary Club of San Juanico, was the only awardee given the recognition by the Rotary Club of Tacloban.