MANILA, Philippines–The Supreme Court ordered the government to answer a third petition questioning the legality of the 2015 budget for purportedly containing pork barrel funds.
Required to comment are Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
They were given 10 days upon receipt of notice to answer the petition filed by former Biliran Representative Glenn Chiong, taxpayer Manuelito Luna, college sophomore student Aristarchus Lamarck Luna and Samahang Magbabasura Inc.
The first two petitions filed by former Iloilo Representative Augusto Syjuco Jr. questioning the legality of the 2015 budget have been dismissed for lack of merit.
Petitioners told the high court that the newly enacted 2015 General Appropriations Act is laden with pork as lump-sum discretionary funds amounted to almost half of the P2.6 trillion budget.
“Notably, close to half (45.8 percent) of the total expenditure program for 2015 are considered Special Purpose Funds (SPF). Total SPF amounts to P1,194.6 billion–of which P378.6 billion are new programmed appropriations and P816 billion are automatic appropriations,” the petitioners said.
“Due to the innumerable and significant lump sums in the 2015 GAA a considerable number of which are automatically appropriated, Congress’ vaunted spending power has had become illusory; and that Congress itself had become a surplusage,” the petitioners said.
“Legislators’ ‘pork barrel’ funds were cleverly inserted into the requirements of the DPWH and other national government agencies by DBM, upon requests of individual congressional representatives and endorsed either by the Committee on Appropriations or by the Office of the Speaker, for the Lower House, and with respect to the members of the Senate, either by the Committee on Finance or by the Office of the Senate President,” they added.
According to them, the most infirm part of the GAA are the legislators’ insertions into the budgetary requirements of the Department of Public Works and Highways and four other national government agencies.
“These insertions are nothing but “pork barrel” funds,” they said.
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