House: Proposed P2.6-T budget ‘pork’-free ­­

MANILA, Philippines - Leaders of the House of Representatives yesterday insisted that the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget is “pork-free.”

They made the assertion in view of the claim of Rep. Antonio Tinio of party-list group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) that the budget includes P27.4 billion in pork barrel funds for lawmakers.

“It’s not pork. The budget is now six volumes because all projects are itemized,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said.

Belmonte said the ACT representative’s allegation is “the usual Tinio talk.”

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, appropriations committee chairman, said Tinio’s claim was “baseless.”

“We in Congress ensured that the 2014 budget was already pork-free and compliant with the rulings of the Supreme Court (SC). The same is true with the 2015 budget,” he said.

“Proof of this is the fact that most of the P2.606-trillion budget is detailed and only 18 percent is considered lump sum,” he said.

Ungab pointed out that the SC prohibits the provision of a lump-sum appropriation for lawmakers that is without details and whose use is at the legislators’ discretion.

The high court also bans post-budget enactment meddling by members of Congress, he said.

But the SC does not disallow lawmakers from including their projects in the budget while they are considering the spending measure, Ungab said.

Last year, after the SC declared the P25-billion annual Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or congressional pork barrel as unconstitutional but before approving the 2014 budget, senators and congressmen realigned nearly P21 billion of their PDAF allocations to six state agencies, three local government units and the National Housing Authority.

Tinio claimed the P21 billion increased to P27.4 billion in the 2015 budget. He said the biggest pork barrel allocation of P18.4 billion for “local infrastructure” will go to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), followed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development for “comprehensive and integrated delivery of social services” with P3.6 billion.

He said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and unnamed state universities and colleges will receive P2.5 billion for their “Tulong Dunong Program,” P1.8 billion will go to the Department of Health for “assistance to indigent patients,” P611.7 million to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for internship and assistance to disadvantaged workers, and P543.4 million to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for “special training for employment program.”

He said the allocation for each lawmaker would increase from P71.6 million this year to P94.4 million in 2015.

Tinio noted that while pork barrel funds decreased for five agencies, the allocation for the DPWH went up by more than 100 percent, from P7.3 billion this year to P18.4 billion next year.

He has accused his colleagues of meddling with the use of their realigned funds in this year’s outlay by recommending who should be given educational, medical and employment assistance.

But the concerned agencies, including CHED and DOLE, have denied his accusation.