Former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
GUAGUA, Pampanga—Although fresh out of the presidency and on her first term as representative, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo managed to bring only P35 million in aid to the second district of Pampanga in 2010 and 2011, reports from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed.
That amount was half of the P70 million due yearly as Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to every district that is represented in Congress, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.
“There was no decision to withhold [Arroyo’s] PDAF,” he said.
The P35 million represents 8 percent of the P434 million worth of projects the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was implementing in the district a year before she stepped down as president in June 2010.
Far cry
The amount was also a far cry from the services Arroyo poured into the district 10 months before she confirmed her plan to run for Congress.
The Local Water Districts Administration alone spent P10 million on each of the five water systems Arroyo inaugurated in Porac, Floridablanca and Sta. Rita towns in 2010. A bridge over the Porac-Gumain River in Floridablanca costs P100 million.
The support of the national government, through the DPWH, has also been declining in the district, which is home to 550,345 residents.
DPWH projects there reached P218.2 million in 2011, dropping to P20.2 million in 2012 as the 2011 projects are being completed, according to a report from DPWH Central Luzon.
In separate interviews, Mayors Mylyn Pineda (Lubao), Ricardo Rivera (Guagua), Eduardo Guerrero (Floridablanca) and Condralito de la Cruz (Porac) disagreed with views that Arroyo could be under-performing or that she was neglecting the district on account of her being sick and jailed.
They said while Arroyo could not visit the district due to her ailment and detention for electoral sabotage, she continues to touch base with her constituents through her staff members who coordinate the assistance in the towns or report their needs to her.
Arroyo’s last visit to the district was on July 25 last year. She spent the afternoon in Porac instead of attending the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino in Congress.
She was inspecting a school in Porac when she asked to be taken to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City after complaining of neck pains. She had undergone a series of surgeries as cure to a degenerative bone disease on her neck and spine.
The mayors said they try to fill in for her absence and services because while she was in power, she responded to their requests for antiflooding measures, roads and bridges, farming support, scholarship grants and payment of hospital bills.
“Her services are regular although she’s not able to make the rounds of communities. We make up for what she’s not able to deliver when our resources allow,” said Pineda.
The Lubao town hall houses Arroyo’s office. On the two occasions that the Inquirer went there, her staff members were out on field work.
The house she built beside the St. Augustine parish church is closed most of the time and never used for political activities, her neighbors said.
Guerrero said it is Arroyo’s presence and counsel that he misses most.
“Back then, she comes [to Floridablanca] almost weekly. We consult her about our plans. I value her advice,” he said.
Mayors in the second district towns visit her at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, where she is detained, to consult with her or find out how she is, Guerrero said.
Governor Lilia Pineda said the second district is not neglected because the 20-percent development fund of the capitol is evenly shared among the province’s four districts.