Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. is poised to reveal anew multibillion-peso pork-barrel allocations in the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 budget bill to bankroll various pet projects of certain lawmakers. This, even as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) assured the public there are no “budget insertions” as asserted by Lacson.
Lacson, in a radio interview on Tuesday, admitted encountering difficulty in pinpointing the funding for congressional pork items tucked in the annual money measure.
“The hidden pork allocations were really difficult to find. We really had to invest time and exert extra effort, not mentioning sleepless nights, in the entire exercise,” the lawmaker said in Filipino.
But Lacson said the latest development involving feuding House members made the task of his staff in tracking down pork-barrel allocations in the budget bill somewhat a bit easier.
“…The feud among lower House members, ironically, made the task quite a bit easier of us, especially for my legislative staff,” he quipped.
According to the senator, his staff managed to uncover a whopping P55 billion in pork allocations in the Department Education (DepEd) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr). “This is a good break for us. It is much easier now to undertake the search now,” he said.
Asked how could funding appropriated for DOTr and DepEd projects could be considered pork-barrel items, Lacson recalled that prior to 2013, before the Supreme Court (SC) issued a ruling declaring pork barrel as unconstitutional, the annual budget law set aside P200-million project funding for each senator and P120 million for each congressman for so-called hard and soft projects.
“We refer to that as post-legislation, which means each senator has P200 million, even if the budget, or the GAA, is passed,” Lacson said, referring to the Congress-approved General Appropriations Act.
The senator further recalled that when the practice was declared unconstitutional by the SC, it effectively “differentiated pre- and post-legislation” funding.
“The new scheme being implemented now is that before budget deliberations commence, there are some lawmakers who have already earmarked in advance some projects in the National Expenditure Program [NEP] that may even include the presidential budget. The project has been embedded in advance. When congressional deliberations start, they could fine tune and insert more projects of their choice. That, in brief, summarizes the evolution of pork-barrel allocation practice to its current form,” Lacson said.
He noted that the argument now being foisted is that “there is no more pork barrel because pork barrel applies to post legislation, and what they are doing now is pre-legislation,” adding that this is part of their legislative task as members of the House and the Senate to amend the budget bill.
“But what was not emphasized is that the SC ruling [also covered] all informal practices having similarity in effect and form to be considered as pork barrel. So, if a project was identified by a lawmaker and admits it as his, it could also be called pork barrel. It’s clear it could be considered as pork barrel,” he added.
The senator surmised that a heated argument among some House members that nearly ended into a fistfight involving the camps of former Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, on one hand, and the camp identified with current Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on the other, may have exposed the possible P55-billion pork insertion.
Lacson speculated that lawmakers allied with Arroyo may have wanted to reallocate P55-billion pork funds among themselves.
“There was this instance in the House recently wherein there was a reported argument among House members identified with former Speaker Pantaleon ‘Bebot’ Alvarez, on one hand, and another group close to Speaker Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, on the other. The object of contention is the reallocation of P55 billion,” Lacson recalled, adding that they are closely watching the developments related to the House version of the General Appropriations Bill to pinpoint the specifics on the items listed on the NEP.
“If a compromise between the two camps in House has been forged,” Lacson said, “We have to identify what projects and who are the recipients of the fund. Clearly, the P55 billion comprise pork-barrel allocation,” he added.
Lacson emphasized the necessity of budget planning that emanate from local development councils to barangay, municipal and regional levels for budget consolidation and for expenditure planning. What transpired, he added, was the opposite.
The senator affirmed his determination to track down pork funds in the Senate’s version of the budget bill saying they have done this in the previous years.
“We did it in 2016 where we were able to identify P8.3 billion,” Lacson said referring to so-called pork funds that he and other senators moved to be transferred to government’s free tuition program.
No pork insertions
The DBM, on the other hand, stood firm that there’s no pork barrel in the 2019 budget following Lacson’s allegations of “budget insertions” amounting to P55 billion.
Supposedly due to concerns over some projects that will be given to “select” lawmakers, the House of Representatives suspended its hearing on the 2019 General Appropriations Bill on Monday.
The President’s economic team, including Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, was there during the executive session between House and leaders, including Speaker Arroyo, wherein a “spirited debate” ensued between House Majority Floor Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. and Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of Camarines Sur.
“We were there as DBCC [Development Budget Coordination Committee] members yesterday [Monday]. We are not aware of the intramurals happening in the House. That is a legislative prerogative. We have nothing to do with it… There is no pork barrel [in the 2019 budget],” Diokno said during the Philippine Economic Briefing.
But he said on the sidelines of the forum that there were “conflicting” committee reports, which the House could not agree on.
Reports said that there was another committee report that was asked by House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Karlo Alexei B. Nograles.
But Nograles said his panel had already approved a committee report, which was approved by House Committee on Rules.
Nonetheless, Diokno said all the items included in the 2019 President’s budget are “initiated, reviewed by the President and his Cabinet, and none by Congress.”
Sought for clarification on what specific budget line items did the alleged “budget insertions” come from, Diokno said in a message to the BusinessMirror: “I don’t know where whoever wrote the report for the P55 billion got the list.”
But he said it is possible for Congress to do a budget “insertion,” which, he said, meant that “an item in the President’s budget will be reduced or cut altogether.”