Lacson talks of insertions worse than pork barrel

DAVAO CITY—Aside from keeping watch over the plunder of public funds through the pork barrel, people should also take a closer look at the waste of hundreds of millions of pesos of taxpayers’ money through budget insertions, a former senator said here.

Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, known to have rejected pork during his three-term tenure, said insertions made by legislators in the annual national budget are also sources of corruption on a massive scale.

Lacson made the comment as political analysts warned that outrage over pork could get out of control and lead to “burn the house” scenarios.

In his speech before businessmen here, Lacson said what is not being focused on are insertions in the budget being made by legislators.

“What Filipino taxpayers are not aware of are the yearly extras in the form of insertions in Congress with the amount ranging from P100 million to P500 million, sometimes bigger for the privileged few,” Lacson said.

Secret sessions

He said these insertions are being kept out of the public eye and are being discussed in Congress in closed-door sessions.

The rage against pork, according to some analysts, could lead to moves to destroy the entire Congress by those involved in the plunder of public funds through the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the official name of pork barrel.

One of the analysts, Benito Lim, a professor of political science in Ateneo de Manila University, was quoted as saying that opposition figures now facing plunder cases for the misuse of pork have started the process of “burning” the entire Congress.

Lim, however, said it would be very difficult for those involved in the plunder of funds through pork to get out of the rut they are in now “even if they employ distracting strategies to divert attention away from them.”

In his speech here, Lacson said he believed that the plunder of public funds through pork went on beyond 2007 and reached the administration of President Aquino, who ran on a good governance platform to replace the administration of ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

10 more Napoleses

According to Lacson, he believed that the scam goes beyond what was being operated allegedly by pork scam queen Janet Lim-Napoles. “There are 10 other Napoleses out there,” Lacson said.

During media interviews on the pork scandal gripping Congress, another analyst, Prospero de Vera, said Congress may be able to survive the crisis if enough of its members did not take part in corruption.

If there are only a few members of Congress involved in the scam, “the institution will survive,” said De Vera, a public administration expert and University of the Philippines vice president for public affairs.

During an open forum following his speech, Lacson said he, too, had been approached by pork operators.

He blamed the plunder of public funds on the greed of some legislators. “In this material world, satisfaction is a myth. It is greed that is real,” said Lacson, a former police chief. Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao