The Senate and the House of Representatives have supposedly agreed to a ceasefire on the allegations of “pork barrel” insertions in the P4.1-trillion proposed 2020 national budget.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday said he spoke to House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez Wednesday night following the exchange of their colleagues about Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s claim that there was an attempt to give each House deputy speaker P1.5 billion in pork barrel funds.
“We already agreed to have a ceasefire because individual members of the Senate and the House have criticized one another. It does not represent the institution. It does not represent the House of Representatives nor it does not represent the Philippine Senate,” Zubiri said, adding that that he met the House leader during the birth anniversary celebration of Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.
Describing himself as a “peacemaker” in the Senate, Zubiri appealed to his colleagues to be more careful in issuing statements to avoid another impasse in the proposed national budget.
“Ang akin, we have to be circumspect, we have to work with together to pass the budget. So I’m hoping that cooler heads will prevail, and no further comments will be made regarding this particular issue,” he said. (Ellson Quismorio)