Drilon vows to lead total abolition of Senate pork

Sen. Franklin Drilon. FILE PHOTO

Hoping to repair the chamber’s tattered image, Senate President Franklin Drilon on Sunday vowed to lead his colleagues in scrapping their P4.8-billion pork barrel from the 2014 national budget.

While the House of Representatives has decided to realign the P25.2-

billion total pork barrel for Congress in the budget, Drilon said he would push for the complete abolition of the senators’ pork barrel.

“I will lead the Senate in the complete abolition of the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund). We will not realign it to other items of the budget but totally erase it,” he said over dzBB, acknowledging public perception that anything that has to do with pork barrel is evil.

If all 24 senators agree to scrap their pork barrel, the P2.268-trillion National Expenditure Program approved by President Aquino for 2014 would be reduced by P4.8 billion, Drilon said.

Every year, a senator is allotted P200 million in the PDAF, the official name of pork barrel, and a House member P70 million.

The total pork barrel allotted for members of the House amounts to P20.4 billion in the 2014 national budget.

For months now, senators as well as House members have been pilloried in the press, in the streets and on social media for the involvement of their colleagues in the alleged plunder of P10 billion in pork barrel for 10 years, beginning with the Arroyo administration.

Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile, together with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and 34 others, are facing plunder and malversation complaints in the Office of the Ombudsman for pocketing public funds meant to help the poor.

Last month, whistle-blower Benhur Luy told the Senate blue ribbon committee that a lawmaker pocketed 50 percent of the supposed cost of projects coursed through bogus nongovernment organizations set up by Napoles, alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Luy, a former employee of Napoles, said the businesswoman got 40 percent and government conduits, 10 percent.

Angry public

The pork scam enraged Filipinos who staged rallies across the country, including the Million People March at Rizal Park in Manila on Aug. 26, calling for the scrapping of the pork barrel system.

Close to half of Filipino adults want the pork barrel abolished, according to a nationwide survey conducted by Pulse Asia last month. One in three Filipinos (32 percent) said politicians were using the PDAF to get themselves and relatives elected, while another 27 percent said the pork had given lawmakers an opportunity to receive bribes and commissions.

Senators also have to fend off criticism that they received an additional pork of at least P50 million after the Senate convicted Chief Justice Renato Corona for dishonesty in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth in May 2012.

It was later disclosed that Drilon, Enrile and Sen. Francis Escudero, among others, got a bigger allocation of about P100 million each from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

The DAP, another controversial lump-sum fund pooled from savings of government agencies, was aimed at pump-priming the economy, according to the Department of Budget and Management.

Senate severely damaged

“Every single Filipino wants to spit at a senator, including myself, within a spitting distance. Sirang-sira na kami (We’re severely damaged),” Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago had said.

Amid the public uproar, the House of Representatives in late September approved on second reading the budget measure officially removing the P25.2 billion in the PDAF and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s P200-million pork barrel allocation.

These were realigned to six departments, with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) getting the biggest slice of P9.645 billion.

Under the new arrangement, members of the House can “recommend” up to five projects to the DPWH based on a new menu.

The new guidelines limit lawmaker-recommended projects to local roads and bridges, classrooms or academic buildings, multipurpose buildings and water supply systems. Each project should not be less than P2 million.

Still pork

Critics have claimed that pork barrel was not entirely abolished, as House members could still recommend projects.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares has said Congress would still be able to exercise some form of control and discretion over the PDAF.

For instance, lawmakers could refer their beneficiaries of scholarships, medical assistance and other programs to the departments. As for infrastructure projects, they would have to identify them early for inclusion in the budget as a line item.

Sought for comment later, Drilon said that if the Senate totally scrapped the PDAF from the budget, the senators would lose discretion to identify projects.

“My proposal will be to totally scrap the PDAF pertaining to the Senate. Which means that if approved, the budget will be reduced by P4.8 billion. Therefore, the senators cannot identify projects for funding,” he said in a text message.

Aquino himself announced the abolition of the PDAF in the 2014 budget in late August amid public outrage over the large-scale misuse of pork barrel.

It turned out that the President could not abolish the PDAF, as it was contained in the General Appropriations Act. Only Congress can abolish pork barrel.

Seeking consensus

While news reports have quoted 17 senators as supportive of the abolition, Drilon admitted that he had yet to muster a consensus on the matter of realigning their total P4.8-billion pork barrel to agencies.

“I will lead the abolition but I can’t say there’s a consensus, although in the papers, 17 have been quoted as supportive of the abolition,” he said.

If it musters consensus, the Senate would introduce an amendment to the budget measure reducing the PDAF, as approved by the House, by P4.8 billion, Drilon said.

Escudero, finance committee chair, said the senators had yet to discuss his resolution to abolish pork barrel.

“I don’t know yet what or how the Senate will decide. I don’t want to preempt,” he said in a text message when asked about senators’ discretion to identify projects if pork barrel was abolished.

Subpoena for Napoles

Fresh from his trip to South Korea, Drilon also said he was ready to sign the subpoena for Napoles and even face her at the inquiry into the pork barrel scam.

Drilon, who said he failed to attend to the matter because he had to join Aquino’s state visit to South Korea from Thursday to Friday, promised to sign the subpoena first thing on Monday.

“When I get to my office on Monday, I’ll sign it immediately,” said Drilon, who facilitated the grant of $208-million official development assistance from South Korea for the Jalaur River project on Panay Island.

The subpoena will be addressed to Napoles, who is detained at a police training camp in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province, while undergoing trial for the alleged abduction of her cousin turned whistle-blower Luy, but coursed through the court, he said.

“The PNP (Philippine National Police), which has physical custody of Napoles, would still have to secure the permission of the court, as the PNP is holding Napoles not on its own but by virtue of the order of the court,” he said over dzBB.

Caucus preempted

Drilon announced on the floor on Wednesday that he had decided to sign the subpoena for Napoles, preempting a caucus on the issue. Some of his colleagues expected him to sign it immediately.

He had come under fire after he deferred to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on summoning Napoles to the blue ribbon committee hearing on the P10-billion scam.

In view of the plunder complaint filed against Napoles, three senators and 34 others, Morales advised the Senate against compelling Napoles’ appearance at the Senate inquiry.

She later said she was submitting to the “collective wisdom” of the Senate to decide on the matter while maintaining her original opinion. Drilon then decided to call a caucus.

Drilon, whose pictures with Napoles circulated on social media a few weeks back, said he was ready to face her at the hearing.

“It depends if I’m here. I’m not hiding anything. When I first ran for the Senate, I ran on a platform of equal application of the law for all. When I was at the DOJ (Department of Justice), everyone who was charged was treated equally.

“This time, my policy is that we should support the prosecution and imprisonment of all who have committed a crime, whether you’re a senator or a congressman,” he said.

Originally posted: 8:56 pm | Sunday, October 20th, 2013