Senate President Vicente Sotto III branded as mere black propaganda the accusations that he and Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson are slashing the budgets of some districts.
At the Senate’s marathon plenary debates on the 2026 budget, Sotto disclosed receipt of information that several members of the House of Representatives, especially district representatives, are ‘anxious’ and claiming that the budget for their districts are ‘being cut’ by he and Lacson. ‘This is unfounded. We have not touched the budget of the districts. Our finance chair can confirm this,’ said Sotto.
In return, Sotto suggested that their counterparts in the House of Representatives discuss their apprehension with the lower chamber’s chairman of appropriations.
‘There is nothing happening here. We didn’t make cuts in districts of GAB. This is just period of interpellation,’ said Sotto.
‘They said Ping and I cut the budget, but that’s black propaganda,’ Sotto said in Filipino.
Sotto, however, did not name the solons involved in the information he supposedly received.