Integrating all forms of “ayuda” under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) program will top the legislative agenda of incoming Senator Ping Lacson in the 20th Congress.
Lacson said that this is part of his push for good governance, along with an intensified scrutiny of the national budget bill, upon his return to the Senate.
“This early, I have instructed my prospective legislative staff to draft an amendment to Republic Act 11310, the law on the 4Ps program, to expand it and address the sectors covered by the other forms of ayuda that have become confusing and have become a political tool used by some politicians for their campaigns, both during and outside of the campaign period,” Lacson said in Filipino, in an interview on Bombo Radyo Philippines.
“Other ayuda programs that are indiscriminate and are prone to duplication like TUPAD, AKAP, AICS and MAIP.”
“Expanding the 4Ps will be better because the 4Ps has a data-driven list of beneficiaries; unlike other ayuda programs that are indiscriminate and are prone to duplication like TUPAD, AKAP, AICS and MAIP,” he added.
Lacson also noted the 4Ps and its implementation involves studies by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Labor and Employment, and other concerned implementing agencies.
He lamented some lawmakers even got involved in the distribution of at least one ayuda program, the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), with the bicameral conference committee allocating P21 billion for the House and P5 billion for the Senate – even if they are not the implementing agencies.
Also, Lacson said he will intensify his scrutiny of the national budget, including reviewing the implementation of the 2025 budget, which he described as “one of the most corrupt national budgets” he had seen in his 18 years in the Senate.
“I will intensify my scrutiny of the budget after a three-year absence. I want to study the pattern of how the national budgets of the last three years were passed,” Lacson said.
“I will prioritize scrutinizing the national budget, which is the lifeline of our economy.”
“I will prioritize scrutinizing the national budget, which is the lifeline of our economy. Without the budget, we cannot move,” he added.
Likewise topping Lacson’s legislative agenda is the support for local government units (LGUs), by giving them a possible one-percent rebate on their Value Added Tax (VAT) remittances to the national government.
He indicated the rebates will be used for infrastructure and livelihood programs – thus becoming an incentive and motivation for further economic growth resulting in better tax collection, both at the national and local levels.
Meanwhile, Lacson reiterated he will draw inspiration from his parents in doing his job both as a lawmaker and as a senator-judge in the possible impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
During his proclamation last Saturday, he thanked his mother Maxima for being a disciplinarian and teaching him and his siblings the value of integrity and not to take what is not theirs.
Lacson narrated how his mother, upon learning that one of his brothers found a one-centavo coin at school, sternly told him to spare no effort to find and return the money to its owner the following morning.
“That was my mother who reminded us to never take what is not ours,” he said.
Also, Lacson thanked his father Buenaventura for his advice that he carried throughout his more than 50 years in public service: “Ang tama ay ipaglaban, ang mali ay labanan (What is right must be kept right, what is wrong must be set right).”
“My parents are my inspiration and motivation in public service. My mother was very strict and honest. I learned to be a disciplinarian because of her. Same with my father,” he said.
Lacson also supported President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s call to end politics now that the election is over, and to concentrate on nation building.
“He is right because the campaign period is over. We must now turn our focus to nation building, and how to improve our economy,” he said.
