What Went Before: 5 Makabayan bloc legislators got P481M pork barrel

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño was one of five congressmen belonging to the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives who received a combined P481 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund since President Aquino assumed office in 2010. INQUIRER.net file photo

Documents from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) last year showed that five congressmen belonging to the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives received a combined P481 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) since President Aquino assumed office in 2010.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño received P85.4 million in 2013, P69.8 million in 2012 and P15 million in 2011. Former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano got P52.3 million in 2012 and P26.8 million in 2011.

Former Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino received P22.9 million in 2012 and P46.7 million in 2011, while ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio got P20 million and P50 million in 2012 and in 2011, respectively.

Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus got P42.9 million in 2012 and P50 million in 2011.

Last year, the Makabayan bloc filed a bill scrapping the pork barrel system, saying that it was a “form of institutionalized patronage and officially tolerated graft and corruption.”

Critics ‘hypocrites’

In a letter to the Inquirer published on Sept. 7 last year, Casiño called critics of the Makabayan bloc hypocrites.

In his letter he said: “It is no secret that from 2001 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2013, we used our Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations to fund much-needed projects and services for our constituents. We believed that in properly and judiciously using the funds, we were doing our people a service. We never hid this from the public, as the editorial alleged.

Please note that none of our projects and none of our representatives have been tainted by any anomaly or corruption.”

He added, “We are not afraid to lose the pork barrel. In fact, Bayan Muna and other progressive parties continued to fulfill their duties well when the Arroyo regime denied us the PDAF from 2005 to 2010 and murdered hundreds of our members and supporters.”

The Supreme Court declared PDAF unconstitutional late last year.–Inquirer Research