Anti-pork groups wary amid SC ruling

DESPITE a Supreme Court ruling that declared the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as unconstitutional, Cebu-based opponents of the pork barrel system refuse  to be complacent.

Mark Canton, convenor of the Cebu Coalition Against the Pork Barrel System, said the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) of the president remains and the pork barrel system may be revived by Congress through other means.

“There’s still some back door horse trading or negotiation between the finance department and Congress. We want that to be transparent. We need that to be identified (and accounted for),” Canton said in an interview yesterday.

About 50 representatives of civil society groups joined yesterday’s general assembly of the coalition held in the  Archbishop’s Residence.

“This is our first meeting for this year. The Cebu coalition along with six other groups in Manila will soon identify how to go forward. We need to have one strategy. We need to have one step,” Canton said.

Canton said the SC ruling meant they won’t have to proceed with gathering 5.7 million signatures for a people’s initiative to enact a law scrapping the pork barrel.

The congress was attended by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, Cebu City Regional Trial Court Judge Meinrado Paredes, diocesan and religious priests, representatives from other religions, and cause-oriented groups.

Judge Paredes said use of the PDAF should be entrusted to the president, not to Congress whose job is to legislate and not implement projects.

“There have been cases where the Supreme Court changed its mind in cases brought before them. Fortunately, the last ruling on the constitutionality of the PDAF was for the good of the people,” the judge said.

But Paredes said the people should be vigilant because the PDAF can be revived in other ways.

“I think we need a law that prohibits the revival of the PDAF,” he said.

Archbishop Palma, in a separate interview, said the Archdiocese would stay involved in the campaign.

“These are concerns which affects the lives of the people. There should be a better way to use our taxes. People should profit from what they are paying to the government,” he said.

The 63-year-old prelate echoed the message of Pope Francis who called on everyone to “be aware of the need of the community” and “not to be allergic to the concerns of society.”

Canton said the SC decision still leaves  many  concerns for possible loopholes.

He said if there was no corruption, government funds could have been fully spent for relief and rehabilitation of calamity victims.

“The system is broken. But we are not going to stop fighting. We will work together to transform the system from a broken one into a new system,” he said.