MANILA — Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson encouraged the public to visit the Senate’s Budget Transparency Portal to see the chamber’s efforts to make the P6.793-trillion proposed national budget process more transparent.

Lacson said the portal reflects reforms the Senate introduced in crafting the budget, including livestreaming proceedings from committee hearings to plenary debates.

“Overall, the crafting of the budget in the Senate was very good. I would encourage you, the public, to check the Senate website. You will see the individual amendments of each senator. Everything is on record, unlike before when we cannot trace who made what amendment because the amendments were merely whispered to the committee chairman,” he said in Filipino in an interview on DZMM radio.

The Senate website (senate.gov.ph) contains livestream videos of deliberations, while the Budget Transparency Portal (budget-transparency-portal.senate.gov.ph) provides additional documents and transcripts of the hearings.

Lacson said the Senate, which is set to approve the budget bill on third reading this coming week, is ready to maintain transparency during the bicameral conference committee.

“Hopefully the Senate will stand its ground. The bicam is a give-and-take matter but this time, we will limit our discussions to what is contained in the Senate and House versions of the budget bill. And we will livestream the proceedings so there will be no chance for secret deals,” he said.

He added that such transparency encourages responsibility among those proposing amendments, noting that questionable project items can be traced back to their proponents.

“Even on matters of oversight, lawmakers who proposed amendments will guard the implementation because they will be held accountable if something goes wrong with the project,” he said.

Lacson also expressed hope that lawmakers will learn from the flood control scandal, noting that many now face charges or jail time over anomalous projects.

Allocables removed amid resistance

In separate interviews on One News and DWAN, Lacson said senators removed allocables — which he earlier described as the “new pork barrel” — from the Senate version of the budget bill despite some “resistance.”

He said the Senate also removed “ayuda” and other items tied to political patronage from funding under unprogrammed appropriations.

Lacson said they received information that some lawmakers, including senators, were pushing for their “individual amendments” to the bill. But the issue was settled after senators approved the measure without allocables on second reading on December 4. The bill will be up for third-reading approval this week.

“We are already in reform mode, then this still happens — some suggesting that if the House will have allocables, so should the Senate. It’s very bad,” he said on One News, recalling his discussion with Senate leaders.

He said that had the resistance continued, he would have asked the majority bloc to support Sen. Win Gatchalian by voting on the amendments if needed.