DBM to comply with SC order on ‘pork’ release

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Budget Secretary Florencio Abad assured said on Thursday that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will comply with the Supreme Court order against the release of the remaining Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” under the 2013 national budget.

“We are prepared to fully comply with and support the [temporary restraining order]… especially as this agrees with the President [Benigno Aquino III]’s instruction to suspend all releases from this fund while the current investigation on the [Janet Lim-] Napoles controversy is still being conducted,” Abad said in a statement.
Abad said that P14.7 billion out of the P24.7 billion PDAF allocation for this year has not been released after Aquino directed the budget office to cancel the release while the probe on the pork scam orchestrated by Napoles and her alleged cohorts was still ongoing.

“We will likewise comply with the Supreme Court’s order to hold off on all Malampaya Fund releases for non-energy related projects until the TRO has been effectively lifted,” he added.
The SC has also ordered to stop releasing discretionary funds of Malampaya, a gas-to-power project by  Shell Philippines Exploration (SPEX) partnered with PNOC Exploration Corporation and Chevron Malampaya LLC.

The government has been receiving part of the Malampaya gas field revenues located in Palawan.

But the TRO did not cover the suspension of Malampaya Fund releases for “financing energy resource development and exploitation  programs and projects of the government.”

“Under the Aquino administration, all Malampaya Fund releases were channeled to projects for energy resource development exactly as the fund was designed for,” Abad said.

He pointed out that only P335.1 million, as of August 15, was given to the Department of National Defense (DND) to upgrade the “protection and security requirements” the project needed.

“As the inquiry on the PDAF scam continues, we welcome every course of action that will facilitate the progress of the investigation, so that those who are accountable for these fund irregularities will be prosecuted in due course,” Abad said.

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