Cebu solons ready to let go

CEBU congressmen appear resigned to losing their P70 million share of the pork barrel fund, including first-time solons elected last May.

But they worry about what will happen to ongoing aid programs to their constituents.

Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district said she believes “public outcry and indignation must be heeded”.

“If the PDAF must be abolished, so be it. I just hope that educational and medical assistance previously funded by the PDAF may still continue under a proper system.

Cebu City Rep. Raul del Mar of the north district said that while he had earlier sought for reforms, “I have no objections to abolition because that is the quickest and surest way to stop any further misuse and abuse of the PDAF. I just hope that I can source funding for my medical assistance program which has helped so many of our poor and minimum wage earners.”

Del Mar served a total of 18 years in Congress and was reelected to a seventh term in May.

First-time Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa of the south district said he was sad to lose his share of the pork barrel of P70 million per congressman.

“Why should thousands suffer for the wrongdoings of a few? PDAF per se is not evil. It is an effective automatic mechanism to equitably distribute the national resources through the people’s duly elected district and party list representatives.”

“If PDAF is abolished, what is the alternative? Do we want a setup where we nine lick or fight imperial Malacañang for our share of the national budget? That is more politically bloody than the present setup of the PDAF’s automatic equal appropriation for all districts.”

Nevertheless, Abellanosa said he won’t be crippled because he was able to secure P260 million worth of flood control and road concreting projects for his district next year.

Rep. Joseph Ace Durano of the 5th district, an ally of the Liberal Party, said he supports the President’s decision “to scrap all forms of lump sum allocations in the General Appropriations Act including the PDAF.”

In a text message, Durano said he agrees with the President’s move to adopt a line item allocation for projects and programs of the national government.” /Peter Romanillos, Doris Bongcac, Jhunnex Napallacan,