House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano took a swipe against Senate Minority Floor Leader Franklin Drilon and former President Benigno Aquino III after they questioned the spending of the government for the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) games.
In a press conference in Tarlac, Cayetano questioned why the opposition are questioning a cauldron built by the current administration while in the past they didn’t complain when the Aquino administration asked for P10-B for the APEC Summit in Manila in 2015.
“Ang sinasabi ko lang yung hypocrisy na nung P10 billion ang hiningi nila sa Kongreso, para sa APEC, [sabi nila] para sa bayan ito, representasyon ito, karangalan ito. We have to spend on known artists and singers. We have to serve good food para maganda representasyon,” Cayetano who’s also the PH Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee Chairman said.
“‘Yun nakita nila at justified nila pero yung P50-million na priceless work of art na forever pagmamay-ari ng gobyerno, sasabihin nila sana 50 classrooms na lang?,” he added.
Cayetano reminded the opposition Senator that his political allies, including Aquino, are the reason why there’s a shortage of classrooms in the country right now.
According to Cayetano, the K-12 program pushed by the Aquino administration resulted in the classroom shortage.
“Senator Drilon forgot, it’s their administration na nag pilit ng K-12 kaya nagkulang ulit yung classroom, I know because there are only two senators objected, me and Senator Trillanes,” Cayetano said.
“So don’t talk to me about classrooms because you created the classroom shortage, dapat we’re on track na maging 40-45 (students) per classroom kung hindi muna natin pinilit yung k-12,” he added.
Cayetano revealed that they’re asking for five more years before implementing the K-12 to avoid the shortage of classroom, however, the former administration still pushed it.
The lawmaker also expressed his disappointment with the criticisms received by SEA games especially from former President Aquino who’s a resident of Tarlac, saying that the “crab mentality” of the Filipinos is being shown again.
“I was expecting na sasabihin niya (Aquino) na may issues, pag-usapan natin later pero proud kaming na dito itinayo sa Tarlac,” Cayetano said.
“Akala nila SEA Games, seafood e. Kaya puro crab mentality ang inaabot natin e,” he added.