‘Pork barrel use should be transparent’

MANILA, Philippines - Re-electionist Senator Francis Escudero said lawmakers should open for public scrutiny the use of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

Escudero said the best way to prevent misappropriation of pork barrel was still transparency.

“While questions over the use of PDAF are best addressed by the COA (Commission on Audit), lawmakers in general still have the responsibility to be transparent with their PDAF allocations. Transparency remains the best prevention against corruption,” he said.

For his part, Escudero said his use of the PDAF is already open for public viewing via the Internet and he challenged other lawmakers to do the same.

“The funds from my PDAF augmented local government funds and were all downloaded to local government units. These are all posted on our website www.chizescudero.com for public viewing and scrutiny, h he said.

A statement from the senator’s office said P240 million was used for the construction and rehabilitation of public markets nationwide and for the provision of medical assistance to indigent patients in regional hospitals.