Palace explains why foes are not getting their pork

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Lawmakers who do not sign Palace-backed impeachment complaints could still partake of pork barrel funds but those who oppose the Aquino administration’s programs may just find themselves bypassed when funds are poured into their constituencies.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Wednesday said that while it is the Aquino administration’s policy to make sure all congressional districts get the assistance due them from the national government, it would rather pour the money directly into projects for the constituents of the lawmaker concerned instead of releasing the money as part of his or her priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

“The position of the administration is that no one should be left behind,” Lacierda said.

He cited as an example of this the case of Zambales Representative Milagros Magsaysay, an opposition representative, who has complained that the Aquino administration has withheld her pork barrel funds.

Straight to the people

“There are those who are like Representative Mitos Magsaysay. She is against the administration, she is against the policies. Our concern is if you’re not helping us in our programs, in our policies, we might as well go straight to your constituents and help the constituents,” he said.

Lacierda said doing so does not deprive the constituents of the lawmaker of their due assistance from the national government through the pork barrel funds.

“So that’s being done. So there’s no issue on the constituents themselves being helped,” Lacierda said.

In an earlier response to a question via text message, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad named Magsaysay, Iloilo Representative Augusto Syjuco, Camarines Sur Representative Dato Arroyo, Ang Galing Pinoy party-list member Juan Miguel Arroyo and the late Negros Representative Ignacio Arroyo as the representatives who did not receive their PDAF for 2011.

Abad, in another text message on Wednesday, said the national government reaches the constituents of the lawmakers concerned through the local government units, through national agencies or a combination of both.

“Without touching the PDAF, we source funds to assist the district working through the governor or the mayors or through national agencies or a combination,” Abad said.

“The projects are selected based on their consistency with the government’s priorities,” he added.

Abad said that instead of the lawmakers’ PDAF, the funds come from unused appropriations, savings from agencies, windfall dividends from government-owned and -controlled corporations, realigned items from agencies, among others.

Delayed pork

The issue of pork being withheld from certain lawmakers became an issue again after Navotas Representative Tobias Tiangco told the impeachment court that the release of his PDAF was delayed after he refused to sign the impeachment complaint against the then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez last year.

The Navotas lawmaker volunteered to testify as a witness for the defense of the impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. He also did not sign the Corona impeachment despite being a member of the House majority then.

Tiangco said the delay in the release of his PDAF in 2011 affected his scholars who needed to pay the school fees when they enrolled in June. He said his PDAF for scholarships was released months later.