No ‘pork’ in 2017 budget, Diokno insists

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. CDN FILE PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Thursday denied allegations that the P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017, the first under the Duterte administration, had pork barrel insertions.

Diokno was reacting to statements made by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who vowed to question before the Supreme Court (SC) what he called pork allocations in the budget. The senator also dared President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the budget measure.

READ: Lacson to question pork in budget in SC

Diokno said funds in the 2017 budget did not qualify as pork as defined by the Supreme Court, adding they can only be called as such if a lawmaker played a role in implementing the project after the budget was enacted.

““Ang iniisip niya (Lacson) kung ang nag-identify ng proyekto ay congressman o kaya senador, pork na ‘yun. Hindi naman totoo ‘yun. Kasi ang konsepto ng pork na sinasabi ng Supreme Court, ‘yung during the implementation nakikialam ang congressman at senador,” Diokno said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM.

“Kung ‘yun ay nilapit mo sa mga department secretaries, hindi naman siguro masama ‘yun,” he added.

Pork barrel funds or the Priority Development Assistance Fund were part of the General Appropriations Act that used to finance pet projects of senators and congressmen before they were declared unconstitutional by the SC in Nov. 2013.

Before the SC ruling, a senator and a representative were allocated P200 million and P70 million in PDAF annually, respectively.

Lacson voted against the ratification of the budget bill in the Senate, saying that pork barrel insertions ran in hundreds of billions in the budgets of the departments of public works and highways, social welfare and development, education and health. RAM/rga