Constituents will understand pork barrel abolition, Ping says

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson told his colleagues yesterday not to worry about giving up their entire pork barrel allocation for 2005, saying their constituents will understand.

In reassuring his colleagues, Lacson cited his own experience where local government officials did not fault him for not financing their projects using his P200-million priority development assistance fund (PDAF), or pork barrel.

Lacson has posted a note in his office informing the public that he cannot extend financial assistance because he has chosen to give up his annual PDAF since 2002. "Most of those who asked for help understand my advocacy against ‘pork.’ They may attempt to go to my office and ask for help but once I explain it to them, they understand," he said.

Lacson said people will understand "because they know we face a crisis. They will understand even if you drop your commitment to them if it involved pork barrel funds."

He said a study on the PDAF showed it was "evil" since it opens opportunities for corruption involving agencies like the Commission on Audit and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Meanwhile, Lacson called on the Arroyo administration to intensify its campaign against tax evaders "if the government indeed considers tax cheats to be big-time criminals, especially in the midst of a fiscal crisis." He proposed the use of certain law enforcement tactics to identify these tax cheats and bring them to justice.

"The government should devise a system to hit these rich tax cheats. I came from the law enforcement community and I have discussed some of these things with former budget secretary Benjamin Diok-no. I suggested that agencies get their act together to make cross-references," Lacson said.

He noted that the Land Registration Authority and the Land Transportation Office can work together to determine if a person owned parcels of land and expensive cars. The two agencies can also work with the Bureau of Internal Revenue to see if suspected tax evaders paid the appropriate taxes.

"See how much the concerned persons accumulated in 10 years, then see how much they paid in taxes. If there are discrepancies, the state can use its police powers to collect the right taxes from them. I am sure we will get a lot from such measures," Lacson said.

He added that the government should lead the way in making sacrifices to cope with a looming fiscal crisis. "It should start with government. Government should set the example," Lacson said.

Once they have given up their pork barrel allocation for the year, Lacson said senators can approach their friends in the private sector to provide resources for development projects. He said he has referred requests for school buildings to Chinese-Filipino business groups whose members are his friends.

"I accommodated some requests for help, yet without cost to government and with no chance of corruption because it’s a private sector initiative," he said.

Lacson pointed out that help given by the private sector usually has no strings attached since they involve his friends. He also said some lawmakers continue to make excuses about not dropping their pork barrel funds for next year.

"They always claim they merely identify projects to be funded by pork. But we know that in many cases, they have deals with contractors and suppliers," Lacson said.

Senators are not in the mood to heed Lacson’s appeal for them to give up their entire pork barrel allocation for 2005 so the nation can save billions and bring down the budget deficit. Not only are they disposed to ignore Lacson’s appeal, they are even justifying their decision to keep half of the funds.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, principal proponent of the proposal to give up half of the pork barrel funds, said Thursday his proposal is "doable and realistic."

He said giving up the entire pork barrel "is ideal but unrealistic at this point, given the situation of some of our colleagues who have already committed part of those funds to hundreds of requests nationwide."

Even Lacson’s opposition colleagues are not willing to let go of their funds just like that. Neophyte Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said he is ready to give up his P200 million provided that all senators do the same.

On the other hand, the leadership of the House of Representatives moved to forge a consensus among members of the chamber to slash the public works allotments for Congress by more than 30 percent.

This would contribute about P5 billion to efforts to fill the fiscal deficit, on top of other cuts in pork barrel allocations included in the proposed P907.6 billion 2005 national budget Malacañang submitted to Congress the other day.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said he would call a majority caucus next week to reach a consensus on the proposed cut as House members consider belt-tightening measures after President Arroyo admitted the nation is already on the brink of a fiscal crisis.

Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco recommended a cut of P20 million — from P65 million to P45 million — in the lawmakers’ annual public works allocations in "the midst of austerity."

The General Appropriations Bill (GAB), however, provides for a larger cut, where each congressman receives only P40 million — P10 million slashed from the Poverty and Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) — and another P20 million removed from their public works allocation.

The GAB also cut P80 million out of pork barrel allocations for each senator, or down to P120 million compared to the current P200 million.

If approved, the total proposed pork barrel cuts will result in higher aggregate savings of P9.7 billion.

House leaders said congressmen are generally receptive to cuts in their pork barrel allocations as they challenged other branches and agencies of government to match their sacrifice.

The President welcomed the offer by pro-administration senators to cut their pork barrel allocations by half but underscored the need for lawmakers to pass "urgent" tax measures to shore up government finances and ensure "national stability and survival."

As drawn up by her economic managers, the President has lined up eight proposed tax bills for approval into law by the 13th Congress. These bills aim to generate P80 billion in additional revenues for the government.

According to Lacson, if senators and congressmen give up all their pork barrel funds for 2005, the government would save at least P20 billion and cut the budget deficit by that much.

No one really knows, save some leaders of Congress, how much the pork barrel allocations for each senator and each member of the House of Representatives are.

However, the figures that are not disputed are P200 million for each senator and P65 million for each member of the House. All told, the Senate has P4.8 billion in "pork," while the House has about P15 billion.