Roxas denies receiving pork through DILG 2014 budget allocation

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Interior Secretary Mar Roxas II denied Tuesday that he is receiving pork barrel funds through the 2014 budget allocation of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

“Kalokohan ang akusasyon ng UNA [United Nationalist Alliance] na may P1.9-bilyong pork barrel na nakapaloob sa DILG (UNA’s accusation that I received P1.9-B pork barrel via DILG),” Roxas said in a statement after UNA secretary general and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco accused him of accumulating pork barrel funds.

He said the budget for climate change adaptation and disaster risk management has been included in DILG’s budget for a long time already.

“Panahon pa ni Secretary Jesse Robredo, trabaho na ng DILG na pangunahan ang lahat ng proyekto na may kaugnayan sa disaster preparedness (Even during the time of Secretary Jesse Robredo, it has always been DILG’s job to lead projects related to disaster preparedness.),” Roxas said.

Roxas added a DILG Secretary also serves as the Vice Chairman for Disaster Preparedness ng National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

He said the funds of the DILG will be used to transfer 26,000 informal settler families living near bodies of water next year.

A large portion of the fund will be used to build houses for informal settlers in Metro Manila.

“Hindi porke uso ang isyu ng pork barrel, lahat ng proyekto ng pamahalaan ay ikakabit sa isyung ito (It’s not because the issue of the pork barrel is in the news, all government projects will have to be associated with it),” he said.