Funding maze

October is five months away for the filing of certificates of candidacies but it’s open season already for politicians to start slinging mud.

One example is the latest episode between Rep. Benhur Salimbangon and Bogo City Mayor Junie Martinez over funds for livelihood training sessions in Bogo City and other local government units under the congressman’s 4th district.

A Commission on Audit (COA) report found things amiss.

It said Martinez confrimed that the list of beneficiaries for livelihood training in Bogo City referred to a “fictitious” nongovernment organization tapped by Salimbangon’s office.

While questioning Martinez’s claims, Salimbangon said he would check this with the Technology Resource Center (TRC) once the COA submits its audit letter.

While P7.5 million may be a drop in the bucket in the congressman’s P70 millino pork barrel, this is a big chunk from taxpayer’s pockets.

Salimbangon, who won a second term despite a Comelec ruling that he lost the 2007 elections, should take the extra effort to explain.

It’s still too early to know whether corruption was involved, although an ABS-CBN reported that one of the mayors also admitted that his town didn’t receive livelihood training aid from TRC, the designated conduit of Salimbangon’s pork barrel.

That same report showed that TRC’s operations are mostly based in Tondo, Manila.

By filtering the noise generated by the two political rivals, COA will have to verify claims that there were “ghost” recipients.

The controversy casts the spotlight anew on how lawmakers allocate aid from their pork barrel and how well or loosely they safeguard public funds.

A prime example was the agricultural funds allocated during the term of then Cebu City south district congressman Antonio Cuenco, which didn’t go to barangays it was intended for.

And lest we forget, former Cebu City mayor now congressman Tomas Osmeña admitted that more than P100 million of the city’s funds that he channeled through his then trusted pointman, councilor Eugenio Faelnar, went to financing substandard barangay infrastructure projects.

Faelnar was trusted as the mayor’s ally and because of his position as president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in Cebu City.

Rather than dismissing outright his political rival’s accusations, it’s up to Salimbangon to show evidence that the funds placed under his care went to genuine service programs for the public.