No pork, just lump sums

MANILA, Philippines—Malacanang on Saturday reiterated its position that lump sums in the national budget are unavoidable because of the “flexible” nature of the Executive branch of government.

“There are lump-sums in the budget that we cannot avoid having like the calamity fund, the eGov funds that are there,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said over state-run radio.

“By [its] very nature, the Executive needs flexibility,” she added.

Her statement came after some senators defended the national budget against Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s accusations that P37.3 billion in pork barrel funds were inserted in the allocations for various agencies.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano insisted that it is the Executive that dictates where the lump sums will go. He said that if people think that the pork barrel is “any lump sum and anyone has discretion,” then it is the Executive and its cabinet secretaries who have the pork, and not the legislators.

Valte said Cayetano was correct that there was no more pork for legislators since the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

On Monday, Santiago said the national budget had “two dangerous minefields leading to corruption”—the pork barrel funds and the new definition of savings.

She said that while the pork barrel was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, legislators were still asked to submit lists of projects for their districts. She said the P37.3 billion budget for the said projects was allocated to the Department of Health, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Commission on Higher Education.

“While legislative lump sums are huge, the presidential lump sum is even bigger, amounting to over P500 billion for 2015 alone,” she said.

Earlier in the year, Malacanang defended the P501.67 billion allocated for the Special Purpose Funds. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the amount will only be used for special circumstances such as calamities.

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