Finally the Supreme Court has declared the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as unconstitutional. Thus, the fund can no longer be used by Congress as their traditional pork barrel.
PDAF was called the great equalizer because it spread funds for projects in areas that were far from national offices in Metro Manila.
It was supposedly providing hope to localities. Even the President may not have known the projects initiated and implemented by members of Congress. In a way, the pork barrel assisted ordinary citizens through scholarships and medical assistance.
While PDAF was manna for some who received financial help to meet important needs it also became a source of congressional corruption, depriving intended beneficiaries of help as amounts went straight to the pockets of members of Congress and some of their cohorts.
I remember as early as the ‘80s when my principal, Sen. Alberto G. Romulo, did away with road concreting and drainage projects because he said this was the reason there was so much graft and corruption. So we pushed instead for the construction of more school buildings from his pork barrel because he said even the nails could be accounted for.
Today, the notoriety of the pork barrel or PDAF which blew open in July with The Inquirer’s reports about Janet Lim Napoles has led to bigger things.
The Commission on Audit and some whistle-blowers revealed how some members of Congress and Ms. Napoles pocketed pork barrel funds of some congressmen, infuriating the public which led to the clamor to abolish the fund.
Some quarters went to court questioning the propriety and legality of the PDAF . The Supreme Court, in a 14-0 vote, has spoken.
I don’t know if members of Congress are creative enough to skirt the the Supreme Court’s decision . It requires the public to be vigilant against any sinister plan to revive the pork barrel and giving it a new name and scheme.
After the Supreme Court declared the PDAF unconstitutional, the House of Representatives held a session and surprisingly only 50 or so members attended it out of more than 200.
That just goes to show that national legislators are more interested in the money available in Congress and not in making quality laws as mandated by the Constitution.
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Last week the Cebu City Council, which is dominated by the Bando Osmeña- Pundok Kauswagan, held a public hearing on the proposed repeal of a city ordinance restricting the mayor from marketing and selling the South Road Project (SRP). The hearing was so amusing. It did not really want to hear the sentiments of the public but only those behind the plot not to allow the incumbent mayor to market and sell SRP lots without prior approval of the City Council.
The resource persons were the mayor’s political opponent, former mayor Tomas Osmeña, his political minions in Joel Marie Yu and Paul Villarete. The only non-political interest resource person was realtor Amay Ong Vaño.
The issue is simple, whether or not the city council would allow the mayor to market and sell the lots in the SRP so that proceeds can be used by the city order to finance projects initiated by the chief executive for the people of the city of Cebu.
According to the council, it was not their intention to bar the mayor. If that is the case, wouldn’t it better if the council just repeals the ordinance that hinders the mayor from disposing of SRP lots?
What is the problem of the council? Does passage of the proposed ordinance tells us that the council doesn’t trust the mayor in the handling SRP lots?
I don’t know if the council sees Mayor Rama’s political stock increasing if he does sell SRP lots and, by the same token, the chances of Tomas Osmeña staging a triumphant return diminishing.
Barring Mayor Rama from marketing and selling vacant lots in the SRP defies simple logic.