You’ll get your pork but there’s no money, GMA tells lawmakers

With Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon in mind, President Arroyo vowed yesterday not to stop the allocation of pork barrel for lawmakers in the national budget.

Speaking at the awarding ceremonies of the Quezon Convention and Training Center in Lucena City, Mrs. Arroyo said Quezon rejected a proposal to deprive legislators of their pork barrel during the days of the Commonwealth.

"The pork barrel has become an inviolable tradition among representatives," Mrs. Arroyo quoted Quezon as having said during a Senate caucus. "We can deprive them of all other things except the pork barrel."

Yesterday was the 124th birth anniversary of Quezon.

Mrs. Arroyo said like Quezon, she will not remove the pork barrel even if the country is having a "big problem" in the national budget.

"However, we may have to release them in small amounts so that we would not duly endanger the cash flow of our national coffers," she said.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the Arroyo administration "merely deferred" the release of the P9 billion pork barrel as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures.

"Actually this is just one of the items affected," he said. "So in general, there would be a postponement of certain expenditures to match the expenditures with cash flow."

Quoting Budget and Management Secretary Emilia Boncodin, Bunye said the P9-billion pork barrel would be deferred until the government has enough funds.

Reports said the following senators have overdrawn from their allotment: Franklin Drilon, P100 million; Ramon Magsaysay Jr., P60 million; Robert Barbers, P28.9 million; and Aquilino Pimentel Jr., P24.6 million.

Each of the 220 congressmen have at least P60 million in pork barrel, while the 24 senators receive P200 million each.

However, Boncodin said the four senators could not have overdrawn from their pork barrel.

"I have checked it because there were such reports of overdrawing, (and) this could not possibly happen because all their allocations every year are equal," she said.

"Because all (pork barrel) allocations are equal for every year. There are senators who, for example, were not able to get their allocation at the end of the year, this is carried over in the following year. So that’s one possibility."

Boncodin said lawmakers have three years to identify projects that would be funded from their pork barrel before the Department of Budget and Management could release the money. – Marichu Villanueva