Speaker on ‘pork’ allocation: We help those who help us

MANILA, Philippines — In depriving opposition lawmakers of funds for their projects, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said yesterday he was merely prioritizing colleagues who have been supportive of the administration.

“I mean what I say and I am not in the habit of saying one thing and doing another. If there’s money, then I’ll see to it that it would be properly allocated. As much as possible, once funding for a project has been approved, then it is good to go,” Alvarez said.

Malacañang, meanwhile, distanced itself from the issue, citing “separation of powers” between the legislative and executive branches. “Congress has exclusive and primary jurisdiction in the preparation and approval of the budget,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

Alvarez said some House members, especially those belonging to the so-called Makabayan bloc who got zero allocations for projects, have no legislative districts to speak of in the first place.

“The Makabayan bloc, consisting of party-list groups identified with the mainstream Left, has not accessed funds from Congress at all. We do not know where they get funds for projects for their constituents,” the Speaker pointed out.

He said the House leadership and even the general public are aware that the “communist rebels with whom they have an ideological and political affinity impose what’s known as revolutionary taxation in areas where they operate.”

“According to the military, in southern Mindanao alone, the NPA (New People’s Army) collects close to P500 million yearly in revolutionary taxes. This is plain and simple extortion,” the Davao del Norte congressman pointed out.

“We have not heard from the Makabayan bloc a clear and unequivocal condemnation of revolutionary taxation, leading us to suspect that they either directly or indirectly benefit from it,” he said.

The Makabayan bloc, represented by Bayan Muna Rep. Isagani Zarate, confirmed they indeed had never asked for allocations for their projects. “No budget was removed because I did not propose any project to any department in the first place,” he said.

Alvarez also took a swipe at opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay for taking up the cudgels for minority lawmakers deprived of funds. He said Lagman’s taking such position was tantamount to mental dishonesty.

“Also, let me point out that Lagman, a leader of the opposition in Congress, has projects worth a total of P3.8 billion in his district. We would be very happy to hear from him where this huge funding has gone,” the Speaker maintained.

Lagman was a stalwart of the Lakas-CMD during the Arroyo administration and later of the Liberal Party (LP) under the second Aquino administration.

Lagman nevertheless acknowledged Alvarez’s P3.8-billion claim. “The leadership of the House and appropriations committee advised me to submit. These are legitimate priority projects which are not in the nature of pork barrel as defined by the Supreme Court,” he clarified.

Alvarez also stressed that even some members of the super majority coalition have been stripped of funds. He said part of such funds had been reallocated to “free college education in state universities and colleges.”

The reallocation was also intended to “augment the salaries and benefits of our men and women in uniform who are in the frontlines of the government’s war against terrorism and criminality,” he said.

“In extraordinary cases we have to re-allocate funds for other priorities, such as education and the welfare of policemen and soldiers. This is what happened in the 2018 budget,” Alvarez explained.

Lagman’s colleagues are Reps. Teddy Baguilat (Ifugao), Raul Daza (Northern Samar), Emmanuel Billones (Capiz), Edgar Erice (Caloocan), Tom Villarin (Akbayan) and Gary Alejano (Magdalo).

Being members of the majority during Aquino’s time, Baguilat and his colleagues received their yearly pork barrel allocations.

Roque, meanwhile, insisted Malacañang does not meddle in decision-making in Congress. “We had nothing to do with whatever decision both houses of Congress had on the alleged deprivation of projects as far as opposition congressmen are concerned. That’s something that should be addressed to the leadership of both houses of Congress,” he added.

Roque said it’s not Malacañang’s function to realign funds in the budget program. – Alexis Romero, Edu Punay, Marc Jayson Cayabyab