Reforming ‘pork’ system to stem abuse

SEN. Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday said lawmakers should not be given discretion in disbursing “pork barrel” funds to prevent its misuse.

“Pork (barrel) is good but it can also be abused.  We need  reforms to bring it to the grassroots without abuse,” he said in a press conference.

Cayetano was in Cebu to address participants of the Sari Sari Store Festival organized by businessman Roberto Go, owner of Prince Warehouse Club.

The senator said that while it is true that the  Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) otherwise known as “pork barrel” of national legialtors was  prone to abuse, the said appropriation is also needed to spur development in the countryside and not only focus the disbursement of national government resources to benefit Manila and Luzon areas.

Cayetano said corruption in the use of the pork barrel funds may be remedied if the legislators lose their “discretion” on the use of said funds.

“Ang definition ko kasi ng PDAF is a lump sum fund in the General Appropriations Act wherein the legislator or the implementor has full discretion of what project, what department will implement it,” he said.

Cayetano said that another solution to corruption is his “three knockout punches”  which include the Freedom of Information Bill, the proposed Whistle Blowers Act and the passage of a law to grant prosecutors and investigators the authority to grant immunity to star witnesses.

The FOI will allow people access to how legislators spend “pork” assigned to them while the Whistle Blowers Act will give protection to people who expose abuses in government.

“In the absence of a whistleblower, alam na may corruption sa pork pero hindi alam how much,” he said.

In his message, Cayetano told the crowd that he was planning to partner with Go and offer scholarship programs for the top 100 sari-sari store owners in Cebu.

He said that in Tondo, he helped two vendors groups have access to capital by giving their associations P250, 000 which they are to release as loans to their members for use as capital.

But the loan should have low interest while vendors are expected to hand in daily payments to their association, otherwise, they will not be allowed to sell the next day.

Cayetano said that he would have wanted to introduce the same program to Cebu sari-sari store owners but he learned tha Go’s company was already giving out loans to sari-sari stores owners.  But the loans that they grant come in the form of groceries which they could sell.

Go has also developed a program where they teach sari-sari store owners simple accounting and inventory and how to promote their businesses with the use of social media.

In a message which he delivered during the gathering held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), Cayetano said, that he has thought of helping sari-sari store owners by offering scholarships to the children of top performing store owners.

He mentioned three reasons—vice, mismanagement and the need to prioritize family needs – as the top three reasons why small businesses like sari-sari store operations fail.

Managing vice is something that the store owners will have to manage on their own as they are  already being helped to properly manage their business with this program.

Cayetano said that what he can do to help  sari-sari store owners is to give their children scholarship opportunities.

However, he said, that since investigation on the use of pork barrel funds is still ongoing, he is not inclined to use his pork on his free scholarship plans.  Instead, he will be tapping private sector help on its implementation.

The ongoing corruption investigation, Cayetano said, did not only taint the reputation of foundations and cooperatives which were tapped to partner in the implementation of some of their programs but also that of senators and congressmen.

Cayetano said that while pork barrel funds only represent 2% of the national budget, the pork corruption controversy has been affecting the two houses because they are supposed to be the vanguards of the national coffers.

He is asking the DOJ and the NBI to hasten their investigation on the alleged misuse of pork barrel funds so that charges could be filed in court for those involved  and the names of those who were implicated but found to be innocent of the accusation could also be cleared.

“Sana bilisan DOJ and NBI investigation.  Charge people no matter how high their position or clear the names of those who are not involved so that doubts will not linger in the minds of the people na guilty ang isang tao,” he said.