SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Monday vowed to go after unsettled taxes to fund a well-thought-out national broadband plan if he wins the presidential race in May.

Lacson said that roughly P18 billion is required to build the necessary infrastructure and systems to carry out such a plan.

“‘Pag nagawa ‘yon (broadband plan) magiging steady ‘yung ating internet service. Sa kasamaang palad, lagi kong pinu-pursue ‘yon—P18 billion. Kayang-kayang hugutin ‘yon sa ibang mga ahensiya na alam ko namang hindi magagamit sa tama. Ang problema na naman implementation,” the senator said.

Lacson recalled that the Department of Budget and Management only released a little over P900 million for the national broadband network project.

This prevented the Department of Information and Communications from developing the fiber optic backbone, a vital component of high-speed internet services.

For this reason, Lacson vowed to pursue whatever taxes are owed to the government to fund future projects for the benefit of the people.

The digitization of all government transactions is part of Lacson’s lifelong mission to combat graft and corruption.

He believes that a fully digitized administration will be better able to collect taxes.