GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Friday said he would be happy to abide by a measure that proposes to end the housing benefit for the governor, the lt. governor and the Legislature’s presiding officers.
“I wish I could just stay at the official governor’s residence as provided by law,” he added. “I mean, there’s a reason why [top officials] are provided housing, for security and other reasons. But I’ll be happy to abide [by] whatever [the law says]. But again, I’m at my house because there is no government housing [for the governor].”
Rep. Richard T. Lizama introduced House Bill 22-69 to repeal the law that provides a housing benefit for the governor, the lt. governor and the presiding officers of the Legislature.
Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez referred the measure to the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee chaired by Rep. Celina Babauta.
Lizama’s bill states that “there is no legal basis or public purpose justification for taxpayer-funded payment of utilities at the private residences of elected officials.”
Moreover, amid an “economic downturn people are also struggling to recover from the super typhoon and the impact of Covid-19 pandemic so the government is compelled to cut unnecessary costs and prioritize limited resources for essential needs,” the bill stated.
Enacted in December 1980, Title 1, Division 8, Part 2, Chapter 2, Article 1 provides government housing for the governor, the lt. governor, the Senate president and the House speaker.
H.B. 22-69 stated that today, all government facilities previously used for housing for the governor, the lt. governor and the presiding officers of the Legislature are derelict, abandoned, or converted to government offices.
In the absence of these government buildings, the Department of Finance has permitted the use of the housing funds to pay for the utilities of the private residences of the top elected officials.
Ralph DLG Torres
