In response to the disclosure of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano that my Congressional District (First District of Albay) has among the biggest allocations for infrastructure projects for 2021, may I underscore the following:

1. As a member of the independent opposition, I have no information about the relative “magnitude” of the infrastructure allocations in the First District of Albay, the exactitude of which Cayetano did not mention;

2. I neither participated nor intervened in the preparation of the President’s National Expenditure Program (NEP) which has been copied by tradition as the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) which was filed on first reading;

3. It is possible that infrastructure projects have been parked in my district by others without my knowledge and consent, thus magnifying the size of the total allocation; and

4. All of the infrastructure projects legitimately proposed by the District Engineer of the Albay First Engineering Office and the DPWH Director in Region V are fully necessary, justified and validated by the DPWH Central Office. 

I truly appreciate the allocations provided for my district under the National Expenditure Program and I am thankful that the House leadership has committed not to disturb these allocations.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN