Cuenco in COA list of 74 national lawmakers who ‘exceeded’ pork barrel spending

He’s off the hook in the graft case over “ghost patients” and fake medicine prescriptions charged to his P3 million pork barrel for Cebuano patients referred to the Vicente Sotto Medical Memorial Center.

But former Rep. Antonio Cuenco of Cebu City is in a new list of national lawmakers who enjoyed excess pork, according to government auditors.

A special audit report of the Commission on Audit said 74 national lawmakers got more than their share of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) by as much as “hundreds of millions” from 2007 to 2009.

Cuenco is the lone Cebu legislator on the list.

He was listed as endorsing the release of a total of P75.5 million in “hard” and “soft” project or an excess of P5 million.

“Hard” projects refer to infrastructure and public works. “Soft” projects refer to education, health, livelihood, financial aid to pro-poor programs, etc.

Cuenco’s term ended in 2010 but the veteran 77-year-old political figure and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, remains an adviser of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama. Cuenco’s son James ran under Rama’s ticket and was elected to the Cebu City Council in the May polls.

EXCEEDED

In a press conference yesterday, Commission on Audit chairperson Gracia Pulido-Tan said six senators and 68 congressmen “significantly exceeded” their allocations of P200 million for senators and P70 million for congressmen.

She didn’t mention names but the complete details appear in the COA’s special audit report which is uploaded in INQUIRER.net.

According to the COA special audit report on the PDAF and Various Infrastructure including Local Projects (VILP), the 74 legislators who endorsed projects with corresponding releases ranging from P71 million to P68 million.

The biggest excess was made by former Rep. Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora of Compostela Valley by almost P3 billion in 2007.

Zamora exceeded his PDAF allocation by P2.998 billion in 2007 and P11.6 million in 2008. The release was intended for the “implementation of projects nationwide” as mentioned in a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“When we say labis-labis – makikita nyo po yun sa report namin ng full – hindi po isang milyon, limang milyon ang labis. Hundreds of millions. At meron ding isa tayong mambabatas na tumanggap ng halos P3 bilyon (When we say significantly exceeded – you’ll see that in our report in full – it doesn’t mean just one million, five million in excess. Hundreds of millions. And we have one lawmaker who received almost P3 billion),” said Tan in a press conference in Manila. She said there were also projects implemented outside legislative districts.

The COA chief released the report in the wake of the controversy involving several lawmakers, government officials and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind in a scam concerning the release of billions of pesos of pork barrel funds to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs).

The abuse of public funds has revived a clamor to abolish the pork barrel, which allows legislators to identify and spend for projects in their districts.

Persistent reports of kickbacks, ghost projects and misspending on wrong priorities have thrown a challenge to Malacañan to reform the huge allocation for legislators in the national budget.

Lawmakers should be more circumspect, based on the recommendations made by the COA special audit team.

Auditors said legislators should limit their participation to identifying eligible projects and implementing agencies.

They must ensure the project “is within the menu of projects eligible for funds under PDAF” and insist on progress reports and financial updates from the implementing agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Congressmen should also ensure that funds are used for “projects that are most beneficial to the constituents” and limit project coverage within their districts, the COA said.

6 SENATORS

The six senators who exceeded the P200 million PDAF allocation per year were (in alphabetical order):

1. Edgardo Angara – excess of P384.375 million in 2009

2. Jose “Jinggoy” Ejercito-Estrada – P136.85 million in 2008 and P265.3 million in 2009

3. Juan Ponce Enrile – P5 million in 2008 and P342.5 million in 2009

4. Manuel “Lito” Lapid – P13.6 million in 2008

5. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. – P65 million in 2008 and P204 million in 2009

6. Miriam Defensor-Santiago – P26.15 million in 2008