By Kathrina Alvarez
Sun Star
Sun Star
MANILA — President Benigno Aquino III should be called “PNoychio” for supposedly lying that the P25-billion priority development assistance fund (PDAF) has been abolished in the proposed 2014 budget, a member of Congress said.
“For lying and twisting facts on the PDAF abolition Pres. Aquino should be called ‘Pnoychio’,” Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares said.
The lawmaker was referring to the story book character Pinocchio whose nose lengthened whenever he lied.
Colmenares said Aquino’s statement is meant to mislead the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the petitions questioning the constitutionality of the PDAF for being moot and academic.
The SC recently concluded its oral arguments on petitions against PDAF following the controversial multi-billion scam involving detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
“What transforms a fund into pork is the entitlement of the pork holder to select the projects and its beneficiaries. This is not only a source of graft and corruption but also of patronage politics,” Colmenares explained.
In the House-approved national budget for 2014, the P25-billion PDAF was distributed to government agencies which can implement projects for the beneficiaries of the previous pork barrel system.
However, congressmen were still allowed to propose infrastructure projects for their districts to be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“Why is it that Pres. Aquino continues to fight tooth and nail to maintain the pork barrel system despite the clamor of the Filipino people for its abolition? It can only mean that he wants to control the legislative branch with the pork barrel system so that Congress and the Senate will do his bidding,” Colmenares said. (Sunnex)
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