Monday, August 31, 2009

Palace increases 'pork' by P700 million

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - The administration did not reduce the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or the pork barrel allocation for senators and congressmen, which actually increased by P700 million, contrary to the claim of Malacañang officials.

Research conducted by The STAR showed that last year, Malacañang proposed P6.24 billion for PDAF in the 2009 budget, the same level as in previous years.

During the Senate-House of Representatives conference on the budget, senators increased the PDAF appropriation by P3,425,027,000, to P9.665 billion.
President Arroyo did not veto the P3.425-billion increase in pork barrel funds when she signed the 2009 national budget.

Mrs. Arroyo has proposed in the 2010 national budget a PDAF allocation of P6.940 billion, which is P700 million more than what she proposed in previous years.
Congressmen sitting in the House appropriations committee surmised that the additional P700 million would be for the 32 new party-list representatives the Supreme Court recently added to the chamber’s membership.

The PDAF is a more transparent form of the pork barrel and it is the source of funds for so-called “soft” projects like medical, livelihood and educational assistance.
Funds for “hard” projects are embedded in the budgets of infrastructure agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation and Communications, and Department of Agriculture (for farm-to-market roads and irrigation canals).

The pork barrel dispenses P200 million for each senator and P70 million for each House member.

Only opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson does not avail himself of his P200 million.
In the House, militant party-list members like Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna do not receive their allocations.

(Comment: Imbes na alisin, dinagdagan pa ng Palasyo ang pork. More pore, more corruption, more kahirapan. Simply lang ang reasoning dito. Hindi na dapat isipin pa).