Palace on ‘hidden pork’: Ball is in Congress’ court

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the involvement of its agencies, Malacañang on Tuesday said the issue of “hidden pork barrel” should be addressed by Congress alone.

“Sa aming palagay mas mainam pa rin na tukuyin ng House of Representatives kung ano ang proper o improper behavior hinggil dyan,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma told Palace reporters.

He was referring to the supposed executive session between Department of Health officials and lawmakers at the House of Representatives. An audio recording and transcript of the controversial meeting was made available to media as part of the fourth impeachment complaint, which was later rejected by Congress, against President Benigno Aquino III.

ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio and his co-petitioners claimed that it was proof of the existence of “hidden pork” or lump sum funds allocated to lawmakers despite the Supreme Court declaring the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) unconstitutional.

Refusing to tackle the topics discussed during the meeting, Coloma said he is unable to give “competent judgment” on what happened, adding that it is best tackled by the House of Representatives, especially since the nature of the recording was also being questioned.

He said it still needs to be studied before the Department of Budget and Management could address the issue.

The Secretary insisted that the Executive respects the SC decision prohibiting the involvement of lawmakers in the implementation of the budget.

In the transcript attached to the denied impeachment complaint, Health Secretary Janette Garin was quoted saying, “So the decision of the Department is to do away with all walk-in patients because in the first place it was made clear to us that these funds are not DOH funds but are actually funds of Congressmen who are there to assist their constituents.”

Tinio claimed that despite the SC decision declaring PDAF unconstitutional, lawmakers received P14 million in scholarship allotments and P10 million in medical assistance.