Budget cuts in the current general appropriations act had stirred mainstream media and public discussion. The biggest cut was on the budget for the office of the vice president following the failure if not utter refusal of the incumbent vice president and former education secretary to account huge funds that were found missing by the lower house investigation committee. Even the budget for education was found by the senate investigation committee to have huge unliquidated sums.
The vice president used some machinations by using other agencies, chiefly the armed forces, with programs that was purportedly funded but was actually not. In a bid to justify unaccounted expenses, acknowledgment receipts were presented. Unfortunately, many receipts were of one handwriting and the signatures were unclear. A closer scrutiny led to the discovery of one name that appears fictitious as it is the brand of a junk food. Later, mary piattos became a byword among households, barbershops and marketplaces.
Allies of the vice president and her former president father tried but failed to railroad the uncut budget for the office of the vice president on the lame argument that the said office ought to be respected by the house appropriations committee. The debates dragged from the house appropriations committee to the plenary, ending in the reduced budget.
Another huge cut was on the philhealth budget which is seen to adversely affect the welfare and health needs of its members. The nagging question is why would philhealth members be punished for the wrongdoing of unscrupulous officials who anomalously drained the philhealth funds. The uncertainty of members availing healthcare benefits had been placed on the chopping board as health programs had reportedly no funds.
The rift between the magical president and the not honest vice president had affected so many people with the budget of basic services as the victim. The political ambition which begun with the forthcoming midterm elections as key to positioning for the presidency had caused the great divide of the once uniteam. Mudslinging had gone the drain as the former president charged the magical president of having blank items in the general appropriations act.
People are bound to suffer will suffer from the cuts.
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