At the same time, the House Committee on Appropriations vehemently denied that the chamber slashed the budget of the judiciary by P4 billion.

Northern Samar Rep. Emil Ong, Appropriations panel vice chairman, said the Supreme Court should pin the blame on the Department of Budget of Management for making the huge cut in the proposed judiciary allocation.

In a meeting of the Regional Development Council of Region 10 held at the Batasang Pambansa building in Quezon City, De Venecia disclosed that a 30 percent lump sum provision for Mindanao in the proposed budget would go into the building of projects and programs expected to trigger an island-wide development.

"Mindanao is not the backdoor of the Republic but the front door to the tiger economies of Southeast Asia," De Venecia said.

Together with Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, De Venecia said that Mindanao used to get a measly 10 to 11 percent share through allocations for line departments and front-line agencies.

The significant increase, it was observed at the meeting, would help to reverse decades of uneven development that spawned lingering social and economic problems and two major insurgencies.

The RDC meeting was attended by governors, congressmen, and regional directors of the area.

The RDC discussed the Medium-Term Regional Development Plan of Northern Mindanao, including the major programs and projects it intends to push in the remaining years of the Arroyo administration.

De Venecia said congressmen, governors, and regional directors have to start identifying some 30 to 50 major projects for the region and "introduce specific projects under this provision."

The Speaker said the RDC should draw up and classify these projects and programs under several different categories.