Lacson: Solons earn ‘commissions’ from ‘parking of pork’ scheme

MANILA, Philippines —  Talk  about “pork” or any alleged irregularities in the national budget and Senator Panfilo Lacson would not  run out of exposés.

This  time, Lacson disclosed how some legislators allegedly get “commissions” from    “pork barrel” that is usually lodged in a legislative district of a “well-connected” congressman.

This is allegedly done through so-called “parking of pork” scheme, which was already  revealed by some congressmen.

READ:  Suarez blows whistle on House’s fund ‘parking’ scheme

But what they failed to mention, however, was the “commissions” that one could get  from the said scheme.

On Friday, Lacson gave a peek on how this “parking” scheme is being used for corruption.

“‘Parking’ the pork — greed always has its way with corruption,” he  wrote on Twitter.

Asked in a text message to elaborate his statement, Lacson said:  “That’s the new scheme.”

“Big amounts of pork are parked in a legislative district of a well connected congressman. Then he/she offers to share portions of that parked pork to other congressmen with very little or no pork allocations with the understanding that the choice of contractor remains with the former,” he said.”

“So project lang sa district nila pakinabang nung congressmen who accept the offer, while the one who owns the pork gets the commission,”  the senator further explained.

Lacson claimed to have personal knowledge of a congressman, who was offered a portion of parked “pork.”

“But he declined since he has no control on the quality of the infra project,” he said, without naming the lawmaker.

The senator did not also give a categorical answer  when asked if this parking of pork scheme could be done only by either a party-list representative or a senator.

Lacson instead said, “ Nobody will dare offer  me kasi mabuuko pork nila. And they know I won’t  accept.”

This scheme, he said, was already confirmed  by Sorsogon 2nd Dist. Rep. Deogracias Ramos Jr., who earlier admitted that some party-list solons have requested to “park” their funds in his district.

“Merong mga congressman na nagpapark, nalalaman na lang namin kung ano, ang engineer tatawag, ‘Sir, meron ditong SARO (Special Allotment Release Order), project ito ni ganito’, eh di sabi ko eh ‘di ayusin n’yo,” Ramos earlier said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

“I remember merong nilagay sa aking na 1 billion nung 2018 o 2017, hindi ko alam ‘yun (kung para saan)… May nag-park sa akin nung una P800 million, sa regional office binagsak ang pera.”

“I have letters from three party-list members advising me that they are releasing such amount. May isang letter 500 million sa distrito ko, may isa 200 million, 75 million,” Ramos added.

READ: Sorsogon solon denies getting P10B for infra projects in 2018

Ramos  said  he was  inclined to accept the funds for the sake of his district.

“In fairness to them, hindi naman masama ang kanilang ano, aayawan ko ba yan? Ang money will be invested in a project in my district. Sabi ko nga sa’yo Sorsogon is among the 10 poorest countries since 20 years ago,” he said.

But Ramos is not the only legislator, who  may have been offered projects by own  colleagues, Lacson said.

“Of course meron pang iba,” he  said.

“It’s unthinkable that a district can absorb 4 or 5 billion worth of infra projects, but somehow, they insert or realign large sums to their districts because they are after the commissions more than the projects,”  the senator added. /kga