Spat between opposition, admin proves there’s still ‘pork’ – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — Militant lawmakers included in the list of “pork-less” members of the House of Representatives said that contrary to the administration’s pronouncements, there are still pork barrel funds in Congress.

Rep. Antonio Tinio of party-list Alliance of Concerned Teachers said Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had admitted that he was behind the delisting. 

“This proves once and for all that the pork barrel system is alive and well under the administration,” Tinio said.

Alvarez had admitted deleting the allocation for the militant lawmakers, saying it was unfair if opposition lawmakers get the same allocation as administration legislators. 

Alvarez cited the case of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman who according to him “has an allocation of P3.9-billion infrastructure projects in his district” – but which the opposition lawmaker denied. 

Lagman denied asking for such a gargantuan amount.

“The Speaker’s claim that I proposed P3.8-B projects is utterly preposterous. How could an opposition representative propose and be accorded this amount of projects?” Lagman remarked.

Alvarez explained that the difference with past administrations is that he is not one who is pretentious, noting that depriving opposition lawmakers of their pork barrel was done even during the time of former president Benigno Aquino III. 

“During the Aquino administration, they were doing the same thing,” he said.

Alvarez stressed he is not politically naïve. “Do not tell me what to do and don’t tell me that they are not doing the same thing,” he said.

As it turned out, the list of pork-less lawmakers was not just limited to Lagman and his colleagues from the Liberal Party and militant lawmakers, but also included those in the super majority coalition, among them Reps. Tonyboy Floirendo of Davao del Norte and Imelda Marcos of Ilocos Norte – both political allies of President Duterte. 

Floirendo – a close friend of Duterte but who had a falling out with Alvarez – lamented his constituents became the “sacrificial lambs in his ultimate goal to bring me down.” 

“I am not an opposition. This is more of a political vendetta,” Floirendo said in a statement.

“Though this is a big setback in my pledge to bring home more projects, Alvarez’s action will not hinder me from delivering what I had promised.” 

“That my constituents have stood for me amid the persecution maliciously imputed on me, is enough consolation that my mandate in my district is inflexibly respected by the people who have reposed their trust on me,” Floirendo added. 

Alvarez represents Davao del Norte’s first district while Floirendo’s turf is the second. 

Lawmaker-members of the House independent minority bloc led by former Leyte representative Martin Romualdez suffered the same fate during the Aquino administration.

So were their predecessors during the watch of former presidents Gloria Arroyo, Joseph Estrada and Fidel Ramos. 

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 party-list). 

All of them belong to the once dominant LP of Aquino, a good majority of whom have allied themselves with the super majority coalition under the PDP-Laban party of Duterte. Only a handful of them formed their own independent opposition bloc. 

Being members of the majority during Aquino’s time, Baguilat and his colleagues received their yearly pork barrel allocations, including Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice who is very close to defeated LP presidential candidate Manuel Roxas, under whom he served as spokesman during the campaign.