THE controversial pork barrel fund is "still alive and kicking" despite the decision of the House committee on appropriations to distribute the P25.2-billion priority development assistance funds (PDAF) to government agencies, opposition lawmakers said Thursday.
ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio, a member of the House minority bloc, pointed out that congressmen and senators can still recommend projects to agencies where the fund will be distributed.
"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 said.
Under the proposal of the House appropriations panel, the following agencies will get a percentage of the total PDAF budget: Departments of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), 35 percent; Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), 20 percent; Labor and Employment, 15 percent; Health, 15 percent; and 15 percent for education to be shared by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) with 10 percent and five percent for the Department of Education (DepEd).
"They just removed the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) from the equation. The likes of Napoles can now go straight to the agencies. PDAF is not dead. It is alive and kicking. The fight for its abolition goes on," Bayan Muna party-list Representative Neri Colmenares added.
The lawmaker was referring to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the multi-billion pork barrel scam, who funneled the PDAF of several members of Congress to dubious non-government organizations.
Tinio and Colmenares are both members of the Makabayan bloc, which is set to file a House resolution next week on where the congressional and presidential pork funds should be allocated to.
Colmenares said their proposal will be remove all lump-sum items in the proposed national budget for 2014, which will be tackled in the plenary for the next two weeks before it is put to a vote on second reading.
"Lawmakers legislate the budget. We are not mandated to implement it. Besides, if I am the one who needs assistance, why should I need the recommendation of a lawmaker? A citizen in need should be able to go straight to the government agencies and seek their help, and we can achieve that if we don’t have pork barrel," Colmenares said. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)