Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Solons: No pork for storm rehab

Solons: No pork for storm rehab
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Majority of the members of the House of Representatives have rejected calls urging them to donate some of their pork barrel for the speedy rehabilitation of areas ravaged by tropical storms Ondoy, Pepeng, and Ramil.

Speaker Prospero Nograles said that any realignment of their pork barrel, euphemistically called the Countryside Development Fund (CDF), should be voluntary.

Congress allots P70 million in CDF per representative to pay for projects of their choosing in their districts.

Nograles said some provinces that were not affected by typhoons this year had not yet undertaken the rehabilitation of their infrastructure that was damaged in last year’s storms.

“Panay Island, for example, has not yet recovered from the devastation caused by Typhoon ‘Frank’ which hit it in June 2008. Please remember that when Frank devastated Panay, there was no call for realignment, including during the time of the massive floods in Leyte,” he said.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor said there was no need for lawmakers to make extra contributions toward storm damage repairs because the P12-billion supplemental relief fund to be sourced from savings in this year’s national budget and approved by Congress was more than enough to pay for rehabilitation work.

Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

(Comment: Hmmm... patay nga naman ang delihensiya nila kung isasauli pa nila ang perang hindi naman talaga pag-aari nila. Masyado nang madamot ang mga ito sa tagal ng panahon na "kanila" personally ang pork barrel na ibinibigay sa kanila ng tao. Kailangan na talagang baguhin ang sistemang ito at huwag nang ibigay ang pork sa kanila. Sobrang kapal na talaga at gahaman sa pera ng tao ng mga ito).