Where the "Pork Barrel" funds GO? Good move by the new Speaker or not?

[Rance]

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For the Congressmen and Senators they should be held accountable on peoples money.. do you think this is a good step for governance transparency?

Nograles intensifies info drive on "Pork Barrel"
http://www.congress.gov.ph/press/det...p?pressid=2159

As part of a sweeping transparency reform agenda, Speaker Prospero C. Nograles mobilized all members of the House of Representatives to conduct public meetings in their respective constituencies to openly explain where their "pork barrel" funds go.

Nograles already initiated the printing and distribution of a pamphlet entitled "Understanding the Pork Barrel," which he co-authored with Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, that would outline and help each member explain to the people what it really is and how important it is to countrywide development.

"The public cannot appreciate what it does not understand," the Speaker said.

This pamphlet Nograles said will be also distributed to various business organizations, non-government organizations, tri-media agencies and other sectors to help the public better understand the "pork barrel."

He would also ask the Department of Education (DepEd) to use the pamphlet as part of their required reading material in their social studies subjects.

This information campaign to refute the misconceptions about the "pork barrel" is on top of the PDAF website being developed which would allow public access on the details of PDAF allocation of each member of the House of Representatives.

Nograles noted that most people fail to see that the relatively small projects implemented under the PDAF complement and link the national development goals to the countryside and grassroots as well as depressed areas which are overlooked by central agencies mostly preoccupied with mega-projects.

"It is the pork barrel funds that take care of small but very vital projects in the countryside - farm-to-market roads, small bridges, classrooms in remote barrios, markets, scholarships for the underprivileged, medicines and countless requirements in the rural areas," he said.

Nograles also lamented that most people believe that the CDF or PDAF is a cash allocation personally given to members of Congress for their unlimited discretionary disposition without any constraint or accountability.

"This is a complete misconception which must be corrected. Members of Congress neither handle the funds nor implement the projects," Nograles said.

Public perception that the "pork barrel" allocation is exclusive to the members of the House of Representatives is also another great misconception because Senators also have their "pork barrel."

At present, each member of the House of Representatives is entitled to P70 Million PDAF while Senators are entitled to P200 Million PDAF allocation each.

Their authority under the law, he said, is limited to the identification of projects and designation of beneficiaries, subject to a specific menu. The implementation is also undertaken by the appropriate government agency after an open public bidding.

"We just have to explain to our people. This is the only way for them to appreciate its vitality to rural and national development. We just have to work harder and bring government closer to our people," Nograles said.

[denzkie]

for me,about sa pork barrel maayo man guro kung ila gamiton sa sakto nga paagi kay naa man uban nga congressman/woman or senators nga pinaagi sa ila pork barrel makita man ang projects pero dha sad cla maka kickbacks ug dako kay sa over pricing ug sa commission gkan sa construction companies nga makakuha sa biiding! kay bsan gani pag bidding sa usa ka project negosya naman gani na xa kay tanan moapil sa bidding nga qualified naa man gani bahin sa allocation sa total cost nga makuha sa projects!
ang naka nindot lang ana nila sa representatives ug senators kay tanan nila ga office supplies nga P1 million wala na liquidation bsan unsaon nila ug gamit sa money nga naka allocate ana nga expenses!

[giddyboy]

c Nograles ra gyud ang nka DARE! 12 yrs na man unta na Speaker c JDV wa gyud cya nka himo ani!

Kudos to Speaker Nograles!

[althea1938]

thumbs up ako kay speaker Nograles. sana nga lang ma implement un

[mom]

i can only say, i hope Cong. Nograles is true to his word. decent thought but would they also explain how much kickbacks they get out of the pork barrel?

[giddyboy]

i can only say, i hope Cong. Nograles is true to his word. decent thought but would they also explain how much kickbacks they get out of the pork barrel?

at least it's a start kaysa wala, di ba? corruption can't be solved overnight... i just hope ma-implement ni...

[Rance]

This guy walk the talk unlike Speaker JDV BUAYA!!


Nograles willing to back proposed CARP extension
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...CARP-extension

MANILA, Philippines -- Speaker Prospero Nograles said he was willing to support the proposed extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) “provided there will be no more conversions of agricultural lands.”

There are at least two bills that have been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to extend for another five years the CARP law, which will expire this June.

But instead of giving rise to more subdivisions and golf courses, Nograles said this extension should be used as an opportunity to ensure food security in the country.

"The defect of the CARP is that it shrunk our farmlands because even arable lands were converted into residential areas, golf courses and industrial areas," he said in a statement on Friday.

"We can extend CARP only if conversions will no longer be allowed and allow the promotion of corporate farming," he said.

Nograles said there have been many failures in the implementation of the CARP because there was no mechanism that should have ensured the productivity for farmer beneficiaries.

"From what I've gathered, many farmer beneficiaries of agrarian reform used their seed capital to buy new TVs and refrigerators instead of using the money to modernize their farms," he said.

"On the other hand, owners of vast tracks of lands found a way out to exempt themselves from CARP by converting their lands into industrial and residential lands," he said.

This practice should be stopped or the government would again fail in achieving the real purpose of the CARP, he said.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has placed seven million hectares under CARP benefiting about four million farmers, Nograles said.

But two million hectares of land are yet to be placed under the agrarian reform program and that will take another 10 years before these lands could be fully distributed to farmer beneficiaries, he pointed out.

Nograles said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had also endorsed his proposal for the adoption of "corporate farming" as a government policy to promote food security.

Nograles said the President herself has conveyed this to him and ordered Agricultural Secretary Arthur Yap to conduct a study on how this scheme could be put into action.

While details of the proposal have yet to be fleshed out and was still in its conceptual stage, Nograles said corporations and other business entities with at least 2,000 employees should be required to engage in corporate farming with rice as their primary crop.

Vast tracks of unused public lands, particularly those in Mindanao, can be tapped for such corporate farms, Nograles said.

"Corporations can also enter into joint venture agreements with farmer beneficiaries of agrarian reform," he added.