Is Luis Abalos in the House? COA bares P20M ‘pork barrel’ to non-legislator
House of Representatives INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Is there a Luis Abalos in the House? The House of Representatives, that is.
Just the same, Abalos, who was neither a member of the 13th and 14th Congress, received P20 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel”, according to the Commission on Audit, which reported on the disbursement of the funds from 2007-2009 Friday.
In a televised press conference, COA Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan said that based on their research Abalos wasn’t a legislator.
“Hindi namin malaman at hindi maiksplika ng DBM na ang isang tao na hindi naman mambabatas ng mga panahon na iyon ay naireleasan…in the amount of 20 million (We do not know and DBM could not explain why a person who is not a lawmaker was given P20 million [from the PDAF]),” said Pulido-Tan.
Pulido-Tan released the report amid the controversy over the alleged misuse of the “pork barrel” funds by lawmakers for bogus nongovernment organizations in a scheme reportedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
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