Projects identified by lawmakers are not pork, says Pimentel

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. KRISTINE SABILLO/ INQUIRER.net FILE

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III defended on Monday the 2017 national budget from a colleague’s allegation that it was riddled with “pork,” saying there was nothing wrong with lawmakers identifying projects before their approval.

Pimentel explained that the Supreme Court only prohibits the involvement of legislators in the implementation of projects, and not during the budget process.

“So in this particular case, when a legislator helps in the budget process but it can be implemented after the enactment of the budget law without the legislators’ intervention, then that’s no longer the act declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,” he said in an interview with Senate reporters.

“So I think we have a basic difference in our description or definition of what constitutes a return to the pork barrel system.”

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Pimentel also pointed out that the preparation of the budget “is basically an executive function.”

“If the executive wants to involve other people like legislators, who are we to question the inclusive approach of the executive branch?” he said.

“Kanya-kanyang style po yun. Meron ngang bottoms up budgeting, meaning to say the executive wants to involve local government officials, how come the executive should be prevented from involving legislators in the budget process.”

“I found nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is that you can’t implement a budget law because you need the intervention of the legislator after enactment. Yun ang masama,” the Senate leader added.

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Pimentel was responding to Senator Panfilo Lacson’s allegation that Malacañang and Congress quietly kept the “pork barrel” allocations in the 2017 budget supposedly by allowing congressmen to identify up to P5 billion each and up to P300 million to some senators.

But Pimentel denied that senators had been directed to submit a specific amount for their preferred projects.

“You better ask Senator Legarda, wala kahit sa informal discussions namin sa Senate lounge walang sinasabi,” he said, referring to Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance.

“I never heard an instruction na submit X amount of projects. But of course the budget is a law and once upon a time it was a bill, hence, it underwent amendments,” he further said. CBB/rga