BUDGET Secretary Florencio Abad on Wednesday said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already started the process of "reviewing the phases and aspects" of the pork barrel system.
Abad said this at the deliberations of the House appropriations committee on the proposed 2014 national budget as he was quizzed by ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio on the controversial priority development assistance fund (PDAF) scam.
In the present guidelines of the DBM, it is the budget agency which issues the Special Allotment Release Order (Saro) to congressmen requesting the release of funds chargeable against their annual P70-million PDAF.
"We have started the process of reviewing phases and aspects of PDAF. But for now, it will be premature to divulge our findings and recommendations," Abad told the House panel.
The government is allocating P27 billion in government funds for the PDAF of congressmen and senators for 2014.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has started its investigation for the criminal prosecution of those allegedly behind the scam, including Janet Lim-Napoles of JLN Corp.
Abad said President Benigno Aquino III instructed the DBM to look into the pork barrel system – from the PDAF menu and allocation to the implementation in the non-government organization or local government unit benefitting from the funds.
Once the DBM completes its review, Abad said Aquino will confer with Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. "if not to eliminate, at least, greatly minimize the abuses and leakages from the disbursement of PDAF."
Tinio said the alleged scam would have been avoided if the government conducted a fact-check on the allocation of PDAF.
"If only someone in the government spent a few minutes to fact-check, it would have saved the taxpayers billions of pesos," he said.
Navotas Representative Tobias Tiangco, an independent House member and secretary general of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), meanwhile challenged the House leadership to conduct a no-holds barred congressional investigation on the pork barrel scam.
"Let us all be transparent, bare it all for everyone to see. The public should know that we are not hiding anything and that we are willing to investigate this issue, so that the truth will come out," he said in a press statement.
The House minority bloc earlier filed a resolution directing the House committees on good government and public accountability, and ethics and privileges to conduct a probe, in aid of legislation.
Belmonte however prefers that the NBI finish its probe first before the House decides if it will push through with its own investigation.
Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga supported the position of Belmonte and urged the NBI to expedite its investigation.
"Certainly prolonging the pork barrel investigation might shoo away potential investors in the Philippines and would be a serious blow to the business confidence which the country is enjoying right now," Barzaga pointed out. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)