Former national treasurer Leonor Briones. PHOTO from Facebook
MANILA, Philippines – Amid assurances from Malacañang that the pork barrel is no longer present in the proposed 2015 national budget, former national treasurer Leonor Briones on Monday said the lump sum fund system remains in play.
Echoing earlier statements by militant lawmakers that there is “hidden pork,” Briones said the defunct and unconstitutional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was realigned to implementing agencies.
“Wala silang tinatawag (doon) basta’t nag-submit sila ng listahan kasi nilagay ito sa mga budget ng mga agencies,” she said during an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM.
(They have no name for it. The lawmakers just submit their list of projects and it is incorporated in the budget of the agencies.)
Briones said the project requests do not even have letterheads.
“Pinirmahan lang nila may pangalan lang sila pero walang letterhead ng agencies para walang documentary trail,” she explained.
(They just signed with their name, but the agencies do not use their letterheads so there won’t be any documentary trail.)
The former national treasurer said that while the Supreme Court declared the PDAF unconstitutional, the P24.5 billion allocation for 2014 was transferred to several agencies.
The same was done for the 2015 proposed budget.
“May isang congressman nagsabi sa akin…P90 million na ngayon for each congressman. Ewan ko kung magkano naman sa senador,” she said.
(One congressman told me that their allocation is now P90 million. I am not sure how much was allocated for senators.)
Under the PDAF, P70 million was allotted to each congressman while senators received P200 million each.
Briones clarified, however, that the 2015 budget proposal has not yet been approved by Congress.
Nevertheless, she said that they still violate the law by participating in the implementation of the budget through the 2014 allocation of pork to government agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Health (DOH) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), among others.
A supporter of the People’s Initiative against pork barrel, Briones said it is the reason why appropriating discretionary lump sum funds should be criminalized.
Two weeks ago, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio revealed that he and his fellow legislators were being given allocations and access to the funds of CHEd and DOH despite the high court ruling and President Benigno Aquino III’s order to abolish PDAF.
Tinio said that during meetings, the officials of the agencies would say that the funds belonged to the congressmen and not the agency.
RELATED STORIES