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Why House reduced Rep. Duterte's district budget

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RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte attends President Rodrigo Duterte" s="" State="" of="" the="" Nation="" Address="" at="" House="" Representatives="" in="" Quezon="" July="" Jonathan="" ABS-CBN="" News="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/03/04/20190722-sona-congressmen-jc-5437.jpg"/><figcaption>Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte attends President Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, July 22, 2019. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File </figcaption></figure></div>House Appropriations Committee Chair Elizaldy Co confirmed Friday that the budget allocation of the Davao City 1st District under Rep. Paolo Duterte was reduced to balance off its hefty budgets in the last Congress.Last January 9, Duterte issued a statement on the fund reduction.&quot;I also would like to inform all Dabawenyos, most especially in my district, that the House leadership has taken out P2 billion from your NEP budget for the district and left only a measly P500 million for Dabawenyos this year,&quot; he said.Co, however, justified the fund adjustment.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/06/23/house-upholds-integrity-honor-after-attacks-from-duterte">House of Representatives upholds &#x27;integrity, honor&#x27; after attacks from Duterte</a></li></ul>&quot;Iyung kay Cong. Pulong &#x27;yun lang narinig ko na nareduce daw sa P500 million so when I looked at it from P2 billion, nareduce po siya ng P1 billion which was &#x27;yun po yung level nung before, so naging binalik lang po sa dati na level,&quot; Co said.&quot;Usually ang average ng (congressman) is P500 million to P1 billion pag medyo malaki ang distrito, medium. Maximum P2 billion &#x27;pag medyo large district sometimes tumataas pa po yan pag merong mga nahingian na naglobby ang mga congressman sa mga national agencies, nakikiusap ng additional funds because kailangan ng development more development and especially nadeprive ka on the last 6 years,&quot; Co added.He was reacting to social media posts on the reduction of the budget allocation of the budget of Duterte&#x27;s district from an alleged high of P51 billion. Co said that that district&#x27;s budget has been the subject of conversations in Congress and he had checked after he was asked about it in a media interview.&quot;We cannot tolerate kasi &#x27;yung P51 billion na allegation even last year the Department of Public Works is saying na &#x27;yung mga last years o last three years yung mga sobra sobra na especially the Holy Land tintatawag na Davao, sabi nila sobra-sobra na yun. So kailangan na ulit na ibalik doon sa mga nawalan na distrito doon sa mga kailangan na kailangan na ng development especially the 5th class district or the 4th class the 3rd class district na kawawa naman na hindi siya nabibigyan natutugnan dahil sa unbalanced. Okay lang sana siguro kung the areas medyo economically depressed or deprived economically deprived sana doon ang development kasi ang Davao City po is napakalaki niyan city, progressive,&quot; Co told media.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/10/17/23/word-war-brewing-between-house-leaders-ex-pres-duterte-house-sec-gen">Word war brewing between House leaders, ex-Pres. Duterte: House sec-gen</a></li></ul>&quot;Matagal na po yan nirerequest na idiet na po sana ang Davao kasi ibalik na po dati before naging presidente ang dating administrasyon si Pres. Digong Duterte the allocation for Davao is only P1 billion when nag chairman si Cong. Nograles on the Appropriations nung 2016 umabot po ito ng P4 billion, times four. Then nung umupo si Cong. Pulong Duterte nakita ho natin yung data na umabot po ng P13 billion from P4 billion, from P1 billion nag-increase 400% from P4 billion again, nag increase ng 1,300% times 13 nung 2nd year from P1 billion naging times 25 or 2,500%,&quot; Co added.&quot;Sa district po yan ni Cong. Pulong Duterte and nakita po natin sa document na kumakalat sa social media around P13 billion on the first year P25 billion on the 2nd year ng pagiging congressman an on the 3rd year another P13 billion so its around total of P51 billion,&quot; Co said.&quot;Actually po last year gusto po ng DPWH sabi niya sabi nila idiet na ang Davao kasi sobra-sobra na po ang narelease sa Davao. So that&#x27;s why from P13 billion, bumaba po ng P4 billion, then this year naging P1 billion na lang po ang allocation ng district of Davao because of kailangan na rin natin ng balance on the other district, kasi sobra na rin po ang development na dumating. And kung titignan dapat sana wala na pong baha sa distrito ng Davao City and we really want to know din later on siguro bakit sa P51 billion meron, pa ring baha sa Davao City.&quot; <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/22/23/house-oks-lower-2024-budget-for-itself">House OKs lower 2024 budget for itself</a></li></ul>Co explained that the supposed P51 billion budget is way more than the average each district gets.&quot;On the average po yung small districts like Metro Manila it&#x27;s around P500 million &#x27;pag medyo medium around P1 billion &#x27;pag large district almost P2 billion on the average P1 billion.&quot;Co also denied claims that congressmen are ganging up the Dutertes. This comes months after the House approved a resolution in defense of itself and Speaker Martin Romualdez. Former President Rodrigo Duterte also earlier came to the defense of his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte after the House took away her 2024 confidential funds&quot;To all congressmen ganging up on us, do not give me that kind of BS because I will not starve to death if you take my budget away. Ang kawawa is yung mga Dabawenyos na bumoto kay PBBM. I also heard from reliable sources that even the senators are explicitly requested to refrain from putting projects in my district.&quot; Rep. Duterte claimed in a January 9 statement.Co reiterated the budget reduction was to balance off the huge amount of money that the district received during the Duterte administration.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/06/24/lagman-claims-funds-mobilized-to-kick-off-chacha-petition">Lagman claims funds mobilized to kick off Chacha petition</a></li></ul>&quot;Kung titignan niyo po divide niyo sa Davao City ang P51 billion dapat bawat pamilya, milyonaryo na po. Kailangan ho talaga siguro may tinatawag tayong sunset, di naman ho pwedeng lahat sunrise,&quot; he said. &quot;Marami pong maapektuhan na mga congressman na district na madedeprive na mas 5th class or 5th class muncipality or 3rd class na nangangailangan ng development. Nasasa-inyo po ang pag-judge kung sa tingin natin mas dapat mamaintain ang P51 billion sa Davao City.&quot; <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/10/24/lagman-links-p12-b-increase-in-comelecs-2024-budget-to-charter-change-initiative">Lagman links P12-B increase in Comelec&#x27;s 2024 budget to charter change initiative</a></li></ul>

House Appropriations Committee Chair Elizaldy Co said the budget reduction was to balance off the huge amount of money that the district received during the Duterte presidency.

Why House reduced Rep. Duterte's district budget

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Why House reduced Rep. Duterte's district budget

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published January 19, 2024 06:52 PM PHT

Read More:

Elizaldy Co

Paolo Duterte

budget

Congress

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