Militant group claims 2017 budget tainted with ‘new pork’

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said he did not find anything wrong with lawmakers identifying projects to be funded in the national budget. Such projects, he said, did not violate the Supreme Court’s decision declaring pork barrel funds as unconstitutional. TOTO LOZANO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Change is coming?

A militant group said nothing much has changed after President Duterte allowed the existence of a graft-ridden pork barrel system in the P3.35-trillion national budget this year.

Allowing lawmakers to propose pet projects without unwritten allotments “seriously undermine the Duterte government’s pledge of a clean, corruption-free government,” Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Monday.

“The proponents of the ‘new pork’ are showing us that not much has changed, it’s still business as usual,” Reyes said in a statement.

“There can be no ‘clean government’ if the regime of pork and patronage continues,” he said.

“Special arrangements between the executive and congress — allowing lawmakers to propose projects based on unwritten ‘allotments’ even at the stage of crafting the national expenditure program by the executive– still reeks of pork,” Reyes said.

He said the budget would “remain a breeding ground of corruption with the involvement of lawmakers in the identification of ‘pet projects.’”

“There are many ways to skin a cat and just as many ways to consume pork through corruption,” he said.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno has maintained that there is no pork, formerly called the Priority Development Assistance Fund, in the 2017 General Appropriations Act.

Diokno said he did not see anything wrong about the government funding pet projects the lawmakers recommended.

Reyes also questioned the Duterte administration for prioritizing the congressional pork over the Social Security System pension hike, a promise Duterte made during the campaign in May.

“How can government now justify not funding the SSS pension hike when it has funds for congressional pork?”

“Fiscal policy should be geared towards meeting the needs of the people, not lining the pockets of politicians to secure their loyalty,” Reyes said. CBB/rga