De Lima: I did not avail of ‘pork’

Senator Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Senator Leila de Lima has steered clear of alleged “pork” allocations under the 2017 national budget, saying she had not availed herself of any of them.

“Ako, wala akong in-avail diyan (I did not avail of pork shares),” De Lima said when asked in an interview on Tuesday if she submitted a list of projects for  funding this year.

As then Justice Secretary, De Lima initiated an investigation into the alleged pork barrel scam that led to the filing of plunder charges and imprisonment of three former senators – Juan Ponce Enrile, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong”  Revilla  Jr. and other personalities.

After being in detention for more than a year, Enrile was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

De Lima insisted that the Supreme Court was right in  declaring  the “pork barrel” system unconstitutional, particularly on  the lawmakers’ post involvement in the implementation of projects.

“[Because in the] post-enactment stage, dapat hindi ka na makialam diyan (you should stay away from it) because that is supposed to be for the benefit of the people, whether these are your constituents or not,” she said.

It was not clear in the Supreme Court’s ruling, however, whether or not lawmakers could  still  identify or recommend projects during budget deliberations or before the approval of the budget.

“Ideally, kung gusto mo talagang mawala na lahat nung mga patronage system na yun, yung patronage politics, wala dapat talagang participation ang lawmakers in any stage, whether before, during, or after the enactment,” De Lima said.

(Ideally if we want to end patronage system, the patronage politics, there should be no participation of lawmakers in any stage, whether before, during, or after the enactment.)

The senator said there was a general impression that lawmakers were participating in the implementation of projects so they could get commissions from contractors. “Maaaring totoo yung iba, pero hindi totoo yung iba. But that is the general impression of the people kaya nabibigyan palagi nang hindi magandang ano ang mga ganyan, yung mga situations,” she said.

Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier  said that  some congressmen had been given “pork” allocations of up to P5 billon while  some senators were  asked to submit a list  of projects  of up to  P300 million.

So far, only Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon has admitted  submitting a list of projects for possible funding in 2017.ac/rga

READ: Drilon admits: I submitted list of projects for possible funding