Co: How can two lawmakers control the national budget?

House Appropriations Committee chairman and Ako Bicol partylist Rep. Elizaldy Co belied allegations by Vice President Sara Duterte that he and Speaker Martin Romualdez were the ones controlling the national budget.

Co said the Committee on Appropriations is composed of 139 members, of whom 36 are vice chairmen.

«How can just two persons control the national budget when it has to pass through several approvals, including the Bicameral Conference Committee with its 30 members?» Co said in Filipino during the deliberations on the budget of the Office of the Vice President.

He slammed Duterte for «fooling the public» and diverting attention from the issues hounding the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she was still education secretary.

Co said that instead of hurling accusations, Duterte should explain how she spent her office's P125 million confidential fund in 11 days.