MANILA, Philippines — In an interview over ANC’s Headstart Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon claimed a loan worth P11 billion from a Malaysian bank was made by the Duterte Administration and used for the construction of facilities in New Clark City (NCC), the main hub of the 30^th Southeast Asian Games.

The Senate Minority Leader explained that there is a deficit amounting to P624 billion in the budget this year and part of this would be intended to fund the SEA Games which the country will be hosting from November 30 to December 11.

“We have a deficit of P624 billion, P9.5 or P10 billion of that would be because of the facilities that we built,” Drilon said in the interview.

“We are incurring a loan here. Inutang natin ito from a Malaysian bank. That would be payable in five years’ time at P2.2 billion per year. So that’s a total of P11 billion. So, it was financed by borrowing, mind you,” he added.

Drilon questioned earlier the P50-million worth of construction of the symbolic cauldron and described it as an “unnecessary extravagance.”

Drilon said he would push for an investigation on the spending of the government and would file a resolution seeking an inquiry on how much was spent for the Philippine-hosting of the 30th SEA Games. (Lloyd Tagbago/IAMIGO/CNS)