House tackles ‘inequitable allocation’ of infra funds to congressional districts

Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JAM STA ROSA

MANILA, Philippines — Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman on Monday pointed out the “inequitable allocation” of funding infrastructure to different congressional districts in the country as the House of Representatives tackled on the plenary floor the proposed national budget for 2021.

The issue of the allocation of infrastructure funding to congressional districts was once again discussed in the lower chamber after Lagman quizzed Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda who defended the general principles and provisions of the proposed 2021 national budget.

In his interpellation, Lagman asked for Salceda’s take on claims that some congressmen are inserting “pork barrel” allocation in the proposed budget.

Salceda responded saying: “In simple language, there is no pork barrel.”

Lagman then said that the “real issue” is not pork barrel but the “existence of inequitable allocations” of funding for infrastructure projects among congressional districts.

“I think it is not actually pork barrel because that has been defined already by the Supreme Court as a post-enactment intervention. It is a question of inequitable allocation of funds particularly for infrastructure projects across the various districts,” Lagman said.

Lagman then asked Salceda if he is aware of the existence of the “gross inequities” in the budget proposal.

“I think in general that once the NEP (National Expenditure Program) is prepared by the executive, then it goes to Congress and Congress now makes—it is the duty of the representative to make the voices of their constituents heard so that there will be no inequitable distribution of national resources,” Salceda said.

Salceda said beyond the scenario where congressmen scramble and try to get the most for his district, there is a “reasonable and feasible” way to ensure that the needs of the constituents of a particular district are met.

“Without going to the extent of federalism wherein the funds are given directly to people closer to the constituents, I guess there are certain quantifiable approaches which can make use of poverty, land area, the population density and of course growth potential and the role of a particular area to the general economic strategy of that particular area,” Salceda said.

Lagman agreed, saying equitable standards should be in place in order to assess the needs of a particular district and the response to those needs in terms of budgetary allocations.

“At this stage of the proceedings, that is opportune for the leadership and membership of the House to establish and enforce those standards,” Lagman said.

Lagman then compared two congressional districts with a difference of P3.8 billion, which he called a “gross disparity.” The lawmaker, however, did not specify the congressional districts he was referring to.

This was not the first time that the issue on the distribution of infrastructure funds to congressional districts was tackled in the lower chamber.

During the Department of Public Works and Highways’ budget briefing before the House appropriations panel, Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves, Jr. questioned the distribution of funds between congressional districts, particularly those of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte in Taguig City and Camarines Sur, respectively.

The recent arguments over the proposed 2021 national budget has led many to question if this is related to the term-sharing agreement between Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.

JPV