MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte may veto the 2021 budget bill if the funds for the government’s anti-insurgency efforts will be realigned to augment funding for the COVID-19 vaccination program and calamity response, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Monday.
Sotto said it is part of the legacy of the Duterte administration to eliminate local communist armed conflict and the executive branch will not allow the realignment of anti-insurgency funds.
“As [far as] the Palace is concerned, I assure you, if you ask DBM Sec. [Wendel] Avisado, DOF Sec. [Carlos] Dominguez, and the President, I don’t think they will allow that [realignment],” he told reporters in a…
Keep on reading: Sotto: 2021 budget bill to be vetoed if anti-insurgency funds realigned