MANILA – Senator Panfilo Lacson has resigned as a vice chairman of the Senate finance committee to “commit himself to the scrutiny” of the proposed 2022 budget because of the “unprecedented advent of red flags” raised by state auditors on different agencies.
During Monday’s plenary session, Senate President Vicente Sotto III told his colleagues Lacson would be stepping down before the budget deliberations.
“I am in receipt of a letter from Sen. Ping Lacson and he is resigning as a vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, saying that the position that he’s taking would give more time for him to focus and commit himself to the scrutiny of the 2022 proposed budget and the most pressing issues of government bureaucracy today because of the unprecedented advent of red flags raised by the annual audit reports of the COA (Commission on Audit),” Sotto said.
Sotto asked Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, what his position was on Lacson’s decision to step down.
“I’m caught a little by surprise with this development, but I will defer to your recommendation, of course, Sen. Lacson is a big loss to the committee on finance,” Angara said.
At that point, Sotto accepted Lacson’s resignation.
Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives and the Senate received copies of the National Expenditure Program, which details the executive department’s proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022.(©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
