Only 2 senators formally renounce P200M pork share

Anyone for pork barrel abolition? So far, there are a few takers in the Senate.

Only Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Francis Escudero have so far filed their official position on the disposition of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as the deadline draws near.

And it’s not surprising that they’re the first ones to do so since both have been vocal about having their PDAF scrapped from the 2014 budget and have filed resolutions to that effect.

“So far, we have received only two. Mine and Senate President Drilon’s,” said Escudero, chair of the finance committee that would collate the senators’ positions and incorporate these into its final report.

Both senators have equivocally stated that their P200-million annual PDAF allocation each be deleted from the proposed P2.268-trillion 2014 national budget.

The senators, who are divided on whether to scrap or realign their PDAF as their House counterparts had done for the entire Congress, have until Monday to submit their stand.

“There’s no competition involved here, that if you file first you’ll end up in first place,” Escudero told reporters on Wednesday, downplaying the fact that 22 of his colleagues have yet to file their position. “Besides, they have until Monday to do that.”

Senators and House representatives are on Halloween break from Oct. 26 to Nov. 17.

If anyone fails to submit a position, he or she will be deemed to be supportive of the House realignment of the PDAF to departments, Escudero said.

Ahead of the filing, the Senate minority composed of Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto III, Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan III, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Nancy Binay have early on declared they’re for abolition.

In the majority bloc, so far Senators Loren Legarda, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Aquilino Pimentel III, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and Cynthia Villar, among others, have indicated support for abolition.

Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV have expressed preference for PDAF realignment to calamity fund and social services, respectively.

Best evidence

“I filed a resolution to that effect. That’s the best evidence,” Escudero said when asked if he would push for PDAF abolition among his colleagues. “But I can’t vote in their behalf and decide for them.”

Given the scant manifestation from his colleagues in support of PDAF abolition, Escudero earlier expressed doubts that this would reach a majority support.

But if abolition draws the support of a majority in the 24-member chamber, Escudero said he would push for a vote in plenary. After all, there are pending resolutions seeking the abolition of PDAF from the budget, he said.

As they reeled from the backlash over the large-scale misuse of the PDAF over the past 10 years beginning with the Arroyo administration, the senators introduced resolutions seeking its abolition in a bid to repair their image.

Enrile, Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. are facing a plunder complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman over the P10-billion pork barrel scam along with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and 34 others. They’ve vowed to face the complaint in court.

And then the rest of the senators have had to fend off criticism over their additional allocation of pork barrel from the Executive Department after the Senate convicted Chief Justice Renato Corona for dishonesty in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth in May 2012.

Criticism likely to go on

Whether they go for abolition or realignment, the senators won’t be spared public criticism, Escudero conceded.

“If we have it abolished and deleted, we will hear comments that we should have given it to Bohol,” he said of the province devastated by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake last month. “Those who will realign will be accused of still having discretion over the fund.”

It’s safe to assume though that for now the Senate won’t follow the House lead of realigning the entire P25.2-billion Congress pork barrel to six departments when it approved the 2014 budget on third reading weeks ago, Escudero admitted.

Specifically, the House realigned the Senate’s P4.8-billion pork barrel to the departments of health, social welfare, and labor, and the Commission on Higher Education.

Given that some are for abolition, the Senate would end up introducing individual amendments to the House-approved budget measure by specifying that one’s PDAF be deducted from the national budget, Escudero said.

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