END OF PORK? | Santiago files resolution to scrap PDAF by 2016; Drilon agreesMANILA, Philippines -- Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Wednesday filed a resolution that would reduce the Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, of lawmakers each year and abolish it altogether by 2016.
Senate President Franklin Drilon agreed with Santiago’s proposal, which he called feasible, and said a new law would not be necessary to implement the scheme.
Under Senate Resolution No. 133, the P200 million annual PDAF for each senator and the P70 million for each member of the House of Representatives will be halved next year.
The reduced 2014 pork -- P100 million for senators and P35 million for representatives -- will again be halved in 2015 and, the next year, there will be no more PDAF.
The pork barrel has always been controversial, viewed by many quarters as a major source of graft.
The latest scandal involving the PDAF is the alleged scam that saw lawmakers handing over billions of pesos to fund non-existent projects proposed by bogus nongovernmental organizatios.
Santiago acknowledged that her proposal to completely abolish the pork barrel is likely to be met with strong opposition in both the Senate and the House.
“This is why the second best solution is to gradually phase out the PDAF. This will give senators and congressmen time to adjust to the new rules,” she said.
“This will phase out the pork barrel, so that the gradual abolition will be acceptable to Congress members,” said Santiago, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes, and laws.
“Of course, the best solution is to discontinue the pork barrel system by reducing what has been proposed by the President in the 2014 budget for PDAF to zero,” Santiago said. “Senators and congressmen are expected to pass laws and exercise oversight functions over the Executive Department’s implementation of existing laws. We are not expected to build roads, bridges, and other infrastructure projects.”
She also noted that, although members of each chamber of Congress are supposed to receive equal amounts of PDAF, “in practice, some receive more, others less, than their regular pork barrel.”
Santiago said the only feasible way to eradicate the PDAF is for the president to delete appropriations for this in the national budget to prevent any restoration of the fund through a line item veto.
“It is important that the full amount be reduced if the legislators are serious is abolishing the pork barrel,” she said. “Reducing the PDAF appropriations to even one peso is dangerous, because then the president may choose to augment the peso appropriations with several billions which is allowed under the Constitution.”
Asked to react to Santiago’s proposal, Drilon told Senate reporters: “I support that because from the very start I said
na ako’y sang-ayon na alisin ang (that I am in favor of removing the) PDAF. The proposal of Miriam appears to be feasible.”
He also agreed with Santiago that all the president has to do to scrap the pork barrel is “
ibaba mo na lang ang (just reduce the) budget for PDAF under the General Appropriations Act.”
Tighten rules on using pork
Santiago also wants to tighten the rules on the use of the PDAF until it is fully abolished:
The fund should be used strictly for “hard” projects and releases should be limited to national government agencies.
- Local government units should not be eligible recipients of the fund. Releases to LGUs have been abused in the past, especially when the local chief executives (governors, city mayors, and municipal mayors) are relatives of legislators.
- The PDAF should not be released to government-owned or -controlled corporations, which may later on be released to NGOs, fictitious or quasi-NGOs, or NGOs headed by the relatives of politicians.
- No public funds should be released to NGOs. This strict rule should be non-negotiable. In keeping with the spirit of volunteerism, NGOs are supposed to give aid to society, using funds they raised on their own, not public funds.
- Scholarships should not be allowed; they are the responsibility of the more than 125 state universities and colleges.
Santiago also wants to strip the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the authority to accredit NGOs to make them eligible to receive PDAF money or implement pork-funded projects.
The proposed 2014 national budget contains a special provision that says, “Only NGOs accredited by the DSWD will be eligible as recipient or implementing agency.”
“This politicizes an agency that is supposed to be apolitical, an agency responsible for improving the lives of Filipino regardless of their political color. This gives the DSWD the right to choose ‘friendly’ NGOs and reject ‘unfriendly’ NGOs,” she said.
“This proposed special provision constitutes undue delegation of the congressional power of the purse to an unelected department secretary. This is a cure worse than the disease,” she added.
END OF PORK? | Santiago files resolution to scrap PDAF by 2016; Drilon agrees - InterAksyon.com
My say - Hinaot pa unta.
End of pork?
Originally Posted by Kristiano
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