By Gerry Baldo
The Daily Tribune
The Daily Tribune
Claims that the House of Representatives had abolished the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or the pork barrel proved exaggerated as the House appropriations committee yesterday kept the P25.2 billion pork barrel fund intact in the 2014 General Appropriations Act merely distributing this to six line government agencies. The P25.2 billion stays in the 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA) but the funds were scattered to six government agencies, House Appropriations committee chairman Isidro Ungab said.
Of the entire amount, Department of Public Works and Highways will get the highest of P8.8 billion (35 percent); Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will get P5.1 billion (20 percent); and Department of Health (DOH), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Education (DEpEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will get P3.8 billion each (15 percent).
The 2014 GAA committee report is now being drafted and is expected to be brought to the House floor for sponsorship.
The redistribution of the PDAF was in line with President Aquino’s proposal to have new rules but keeping the pork barrel of legislators intact, thus only renaming the funds as a result of public outrage over the funds’ misuse as indicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
The new policy would enable the lawmakers to recommend to the government agencies which projects fit their respective congressional districts and the needs of their constituents including funds for education and health.
ACT Teacher party list Rep. Antonio Tinio who voited against the committee decision to preserve the pork barrel fund said he was not convinced with the formula agreed upon and he is still battling for the total abolition of PDAF.
Almost 100 members of the House approriations committee agreed not to scrap PDAF in the 2014 budget but merely transfer the funds to the six government agencies.
Under the committee proposal, Ungab explained that each congressmen have still the chance to recommend soft and hard projects but the government agencies has the last say if they will approve the Congressmen’s request.
“It depends on the persuasion or the argument of the congressmen. Of course it can be accepted or rejected,” said Ungab as he stressed that he could not say if the proposals of each congressman for the fund use will have a limit.
The PDAF funds, however, may no longer be channeled through foundations, non-government organizations (NGOs) and local government units, Ungab said.
Left-leaning partylist groups rejected the mere transfer of the PDAF to government agencies.
Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela and Tinio branded the move as a ploy to retain the PDAF against the will of the people.
“We voted no because this is still PDAF. This is not the demand of the people. The demand is to abolish PDAF, including the Presidential pork. The fact that the lawmakers are still entitled to recommend proves that there is still PDAF,” Colmenares said yesterday.
Colmenares, Tinio and De Jesus, who have not been using their PDAF during the past several Congresses, now maintained that the PDAF system is inherently corrupt.
The Makabayan bloc describes any lump sum appropriation in the national budget as pork barrel and brands the President’s discretionary funds such as P1 trillion worth of Special Purpose Funds which are being used in emergency situations like calamity funds as pork. The position does not sit well with the administration which is task to disburse funds for typhoon victims and other natural disasters.
The new system also gives the government agency the power to reject the recommended projects of the lawmakers.
“The fact that the new system grants the lawmakers the entitlement of recommending projects proves that there is still pork. That is still influence peddling,” Tinio added. Tinio is one of those who have used millions of pesos of his pork barrel for the construction of school buildings in various parts of the country.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, meanwhile, ordered the review of the performance of the House Oversight Committee during the previous Congresses following a recommendation to revive the panel.
“I don’t like to say no to that [revival of oversight committee). We are studying it,” Belmonte said.
The move was triggered by the decision of the House to relegate the pork barrel to six government agencies which are involved in education, health and social services.
“For instance, the House for a long time had the oversight committee. What did it do? So I want to find out how successful was it? I want to do all of that and not just act on a theoretical basis,” the speaker said.
The Speaker said he is also open to suggestion that implementing agencies should submit regular reports to Congress regarding the disbursement of public funds.
“It is not a bad idea. We should do that,” he said.
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