Syjuco files new case vs pork barrel, asks SC to declare 2015 budget unconstitutional

MANILA, Philippines – Reiterating his beef with “pork,” former Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. has asked the Supreme Court anew to declare the 2015 national budget unconstitutional, saying its lump sum allocations were similar to the already invalidated presidential discretionary fund.

In a petition filed Tuesday just before the court closed for the holidays, Syjuco moved to stop the implementation of the P2.6-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) for allocations that were “clones” of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), so-called the President’s “pork barrel” which the high court declared illegal last July 1.

Augusto “Boboy” Syjuco Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The former lawmaker also slammed the GAA’s “new definition of savings,” saying its tweaked wording gave only a “new dress” to what the high court had already struck down under DAP.

“The 2015 GAA contains line items similar to pork barrel allocations,” said the 31-page petition, which amended a petition Syjuco had filed on Nov. 25 to question the national budget.

The petition quoted a commentary from former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad, who had said: “In complete defiance of the Supreme Court, which struck down the pork-barrel system as unconstitutional and ordered the prosecution of all those involved in the manipulation of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the DAP, Aquino had Congress pass his P2.6 trillion spending bill, with P1.3 trillion in presidential pork, while claiming to have junked the pork-barrel system altogether.”