By Ben Rosario The House of Representatives would rather await the decision of the Senate majority on the proposed 2019 General Appropriations Act than engage Senator Panfilo Lacson in a media war over his allegations that House leaders have awarded their respective congressional districts with huge public works allocations in the budget measure. (MANILA BULLETIN) Compostela Valley Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora, senior vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the bicameral conference committee is the right place for congressmen and senators to resolve conflicts in the budget bill that proposes P3.757 trillion national allocation in 2019. “For now we will stick with what is the decision of the House. Should there be changes in the Senate, we will discuss because this is the reason why we have bicam,” Zamora told reporters during a press conference last Wednesday. Lacson, arch-critic of former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has claimed that her congressional district in Pampanga and that of Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya will get P4.3 billion in alleged “pork barrel” funds next year. Zamora admitted that Pampanga’s second district will get only a total P1.9 billion as proposed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, not P2.4 billion as Lacson claimed. The acting appropriations panel chief said the grant of allocation to congressional districts may not be comparatively equal because some areas need more funds to complete or continue infrastructure and other public works projects that suffered zero allocation or deficient funding in the past years. Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the bigger budget given to Arroyo can be justified by the fact that the second district of Pampanga received ‘zero” allocation during the six years in power of former President Benigno Aquino III. Arroyo was placed under hospital detention for near four year on allegations of plunder and graft. However, all charges were dismissed by the Supreme Court. Zamora agreed as she pointed out that solons who were denied public works budget now have the chance to get enough funding. “Ano iyong hindi natuloy, ano man iyong hindi na-implement during the time (Aquino term), that we give special consideration. I think it’s just right to pursue the project and give them consideration,” she explained. Coop Natcco partylist Rep. Anthony Bravo also reacted to Lacson’s allegations, saying tha\there were only a few congressional districts that received additional funds, other than the usual P70 million cap for infrastructure projects. “I don’t know where the good senator actually got his figures,” she told reporters during a press conference. Zamora said it is false to say that Arroyo’s district was favored because there are also other districts that were allocated bigger budgets because of the areas’ respective needs. “It’s unfair to single out the second district of Pampanga,” she said. “There are other districts, too (with bigger allocations). I just can’t name the districts (offhand).” She said Arroyo’s district was allocated P1.4 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the Department of Budget (DBM) and it was raised by P500 million in the House’ version of the budget. “It wasn’t increased by that much,” Zamora said. “Based on the (proposed) realignments submitted by the DPWH, it was around P500 million so it’s now P1.9 billion.” Zamora said the allocations of some districts were not increased because of insertions during the deliberations on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) but because of the proposed additional projects submitted agencies, especially district engineers of the DPWH.