Alvarez belies return of ‘pork’

MANILA, Philippines – With Secretary Benjamin Diokno at the helm of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), there is no way the pork barrel or any similar allocation can be allowed in the national expenditure program, presumptive speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said yesterday.

He was reacting to a report in The STAR that the pork barrel fund for senators and House members is back and initially is being offered to neophyte lawmakers.

“It’s hard to argue with Secretary Ben Diokno, he will not allow it,” Alvarez told dzMM radio in Filipino.

He added Diokno is “very strict” and branded the report as “very imaginative.”

“Nonsense, pure nonsense. How could the pork barrel be revived when it had already been declared illegal by the Supreme Court? Secretary Diokno will not allow it,” the Davao del Norte congressman said in Filipino.

He said reviving the discredited pork allocation would surely invite legal challenge, something the administration would never allow.

“There will be no more PDAF,” Alvarez said, referring to the then official name of pork barrel – Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Bayan Muna congressman Carlos Zarate has cautioned the incoming House leadership against giving lump sums to legislators through the proposed 2017 national budget.

“If this budget is the one still prepared by the Abad-DBM that is littered with pork allocations for the members of Congress, then the same should not be allowed at all and should be scrapped at once from the proposed 2017 budget,” he said.

“We have yet to see and study the 2017 budget that the new administration will submit.”

He said pork barrel funds “are better allocated to the basic needs/social services of our poor people.”

Duterte, he said, had made clear his opposition to the pork barrel fund “knowing fully well that it was, is and will still be a source of graft and corruption.” 

“Duterte’s avowed stand of zero tolerance on corruption will be put to nothing if pork is allowed to grease the hands of legislators as a form of patronage,” he added.

House insiders said neophyte lawmakers have been told to submit to the appropriations committee a list of their projects for a total of P80 million – P50 million for hard projects like roads and P30 million for soft projects like scholarships and hospitalization.

House members are still entitled to P70 million in PDAF every year, but the funds are directly released to the agencies under their respective constituencies or local government units (LGUs), like the satellite offices of the departments of Public Works and Highways, Health, Education and the like.

But the lawmaker-source also revealed that as per instructions, the House leadership under Alvarez has made it clear this doesn’t necessarily mean the pork barrel system is back, but that “they are just exercising their power of the purse.”

“We were told that the act of submitting the list of projects should not be treated as a return to the pork barrel system because the identification process is being done even before the national budget for next year is approved,” he explained.

This means therefore there is “no violation” of the November 2014 ruling by the SC declaring the unconstitutionality of the lump sum funds which previously entitled senators and congressmen to P200 million and P70 million each a year, respectively.

The SC verdict specifically prohibited only the post-enactment intervention of members of Congress in the national budget.

“What we are doing now is pre-enactment activity that is within the power of lawmakers,” the congressman said, admitting that some neophyte lawmakers submitted a list of projects even before Duterte assumed office last June 30.

The lawmaker said the information for the neophyte lawmakers to submit the names of projects through a two-page form was relayed to them during the first batch of the ongoing orientation at the House.

Abuse of authority

Diokno, meanwhile, said the past two administrations had abused their budget authority, adversely affecting the implementation of projects.

In a speech delivered on Monday before budget officials and personnel, Diokno vowed to implement reforms during his second stint as head of the agency.

He said he would push for a Budget Reform Act that would address what he called the “abuses” committed by the two previous presidents.

“The intervening 15 years – nine for president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and six for president Benigno S. Aquino – were years of abuses of the president’s budget authority,” the DBM chief said. 

“Having seen how fiscally responsible budget rules were misused by two immediate past presidents, my goal is to have a Budget Reform Act that will curb the abuses of the president in the exercise of his budget preparation and execution responsibilities,” he added.

Diokno said Arroyo operated with a reenacted budget in three of her nine years in office, while Aquino would be “long remembered for his unconstitutionally crafted Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).”

The DBM chief previously scored officials who claimed that a reenacted budget would allow the president to declare capital outlays as savings and use them for whatever projects or programs he wants. Diokno noted a reenacted budget would prevent an administration from starting new projects due to lack of spending authority.

Some acts under DAP, meanwhile, were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last July for going against the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.

 The high court, in particular, struck down the cross-border transfers of savings of the executive to augment funds of agencies outside the department, as well as the withdrawal of unobligated allotments from implementing agencies and their use as savings before the end of a fiscal year. The allocation of funding items not included in the national budget was also declared unconstitutional.

Diokno said his return to the budget department has provided him the chance to continue the reforms disrupted by the ouster of his former boss, former president Joseph Estrada, in a popular revolt in 2001.

“At that time, we were in the midst of the Asian financial crises. The pressure was for the government to pump prime the economy, and we did. Unfortunately, president Estrada’s term was cut short by an unconstitutional coup that left many of the budget reforms I initiated hanging,” he said.

“I’m now given the opportunity this time around to complete the reforms that I have started.”

He maintained the term “savings,” use of savings, augmentation, reenactment would be defined clearly, consistent with the SC rulings against the DAP and the PDAF.

“Some features of Freedom of Information (FOI) Act will be incorporated in the Budget Reform Act. This will make the budget and the financial transactions of the government truly transparent,” Diokno said.

“It is not enough that we upload in the web tons of information on the budget. Citizens should be able to ask relevant information from DBM and we are obligated to respond accordingly,” he added.

Diokno said the Budget Reform Act would also define the concept and process of budget impoundment, consistent with Congress’ power of the purse.

He said the proposed act would also incorporate all major budget reforms that have been adopted within the executive department but have yet to be passed by Congress.

“If enacted, the tighter budget rules will endure, long after President Duterte’s term is over,” the budget chief added.

Diokno said his immediate focus would be the 2017 budget, which he said should reflect Duterte’s goals for the country.

“It should already embody his dreams and aspirations for the Filipino people – a budget that will start to fix the country’s poor public infrastructure; a budget that will invest in our young in order to develop them into a strong (citizenry), that will help modernize agriculture and transform rural communities; and a budget that will develop lagging regions,” he said. – With Alexis Romero