Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday lauded the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to withhold the release of some PHP80 billion in congressional realignments under the 2020 national budget.

Lacson said the withheld realignments were made by some lawmakers who had the “unmitigated gall” to funnel funds from the administration’s “Build, Build, Build” flagship program to their districts’ “pet projects.”

But instead of exercising the President’s veto power over the line items which could delay the approval of the 2020 General Appropriations Act, he said Malacañang decided to just withhold the release of the funds by way of a DBM circular that they now call “For Later Release,” which has the same effect of a veto.

“I support the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte and the DBM to withhold the release of these congressional realignments,” he said in a statement.

“This is one reason why I continue to support the leadership of President Duterte in spite of some disagreements with him over some policy issues: He has time and again displayed the strong political will, even against many self-proclaimed allies in Congress whose loyalty clearly lies where the money lies,” Lacson said.

Lacson also said the President should always be wary of these so-called “allies” who have the propensity to praise him to high heavens and never criticize him, but “with self-aggrandizement and greed as their only motivation and nothing else.” (PNA)