First bill seeking to abolish pork barrel filed in Senate

Senator Teofisto Guingona III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Senator  Teofisto Guingona III has also filed a bill seeking to abolish the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) and institutionalize bottom-up budgeting “to ensure greater transparency, accountability, and openness in the budget preparation process.”

Guingona was the first senator to file a bill meant to scrap the PDAF. Earlier, Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero filed  resolutions  meant to scrap the same  fund.

“The public funds should finance the needs of the people. Allocation and spending of the people’s money should not be in the discretion of the public officials alone,” Guingona said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Filipino people must be consulted and their voices be heard in the budget preparation process, since the allocation of funds to various projects has a direct effect on their lives,” he said.

Under the bill he filed–Senate Bill No. 1524  known as the Bottom Up Budgeting Act of 2013– the amount intended for PDAF  will now  be allocated to different national government agencies (NGAs).

The government, the bill said, will ensure the involvement of civil society organizations (CSOs) by institutionalizing “bottom up budgeting” in the identification and planning of programs and projects that will be funded by the GAA.

“While reforms to limit discretion in the use of public funds have been pursued by the government in recent years, much is left to be done. Measures have to be put in place against those who choose to abuse the system,” Guingona said.

“We start with the abolition of the PDAF or the pork barrel–and allocate the amount intended for it to the different NGAs,”  he further said.

The senator explained that under his bill, PDAF and its subsequent forms would be abolished  in the General Appropriations Act.

“This move is to limit the discretion of legislators in the use of public funds, following the latest report of the Commission on Audit on the misuse and corruption of the government’s coffers,” he said.

In lieu of PDAF, the proposed measure seeks to institutionalize Bottom Up Budgeting,  an approach in formulating budget proposals of agencies taking into consideration the development needs of municipalities and cities as identified in their respective local development plan, formulated with the active participation of CSOs.

“The abolition of the PDAF and the institutionalization of BUB are two big steps that we can take to operationalize the Aquino administration’s slogan: Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap as it addresses the challenges of improving service delivery, increasing government accountability, and more effective management of public resources,” Guingona said.

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