YEARENDER: House bows to SC ruling on ‘pork’ abolition, but...

MANILA, Philippines - Bowing to public pressure and a Supreme Court (SC) ruling, the House of Representatives abolished the congressional pork barrel, officially known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), this year.

However, House leaders vowed to reassert their power over the purse through oversight, and even impeachment of erring officials.

They lamented the SC decision declaring the PDAF unconstitutional, saying it would not only deprive hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries of various educational, health and emergency assistance, but also somehow weaken Congress while making the judiciary and the executive branch more powerful.

“Analysts could not have been more wrong. It (PDAF abolition) now makes him the most powerful President. He will now have absolute power to choose who to favor or not (with projects),” a senior administration lawmaker had said.

The House deleted the provision allocating over P25 billion – P70 million per congressman and P200 million per senator – as PDAF in the 2014 budget.

The amount was instead realigned to six implementing agencies, including the Department of Public Works and Highways. However, House members were allowed to propose infrastructure projects for their respective districts.

Some P12 billion in PDAF which were not released to congressmen would be used to augment the calamity fund for the rehabilitation of areas damaged by calamities, including Super Typhoon Yolanda, as provided in a House resolution.

Lawmakers also called for the abolition of various lump sums and discretionary funds, including the Disbursement Acceleration Program of the President, in the 2014 national budget that critics estimate at over P500 billion.

“If the President’s pork is not abolished, the effect of the (SC) decision would be to concentrate the resources for political patronage on the President,” ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. told reporters “a diligent legislator can introduce some of his projects in the budget process.”

“We will never lose sight of opportunities open to us to reform our system. We will face these problems squarely and take concrete actions to correct the system and rebuild the integrity of our institutions, promoting good governance through full transparency and accountability in public office,” he said.

Scrutiny, oversight

But while lawmakers have lost their discretion over congressional lump sums, they will continue to have a say on how taxpayers’ money is spent by various government agencies.

They revived the joint congressional oversight committee on government expenditures to monitor disbursements from the 2014 national budget.

“It’s clear: the executive branch implements the law, the legislative branch legislates and conducts oversight,” Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House appropriations committee, said.

“The power of oversight is inherent in the powers of Congress. We will check the absorptive capacity of the departments after we have given them funds. We will also closely monitor the implementation of the projects listed in the GAA (General Appropriations Act),” he said.

He said the P100-billion rehabilitation fund for calamity-hit areas is among the items they will closely monitor.

He said the oversight panel would not violate the SC ruling, which barred lawmakers from any “post-enactment participation” in the GAA.

Freedom of information bill

2013 saw the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill revived in the House with its proponents vowing its enactment before the end of the 16th Congress.

Last November, the House committee on public information voted to come up with a consolidated version of the 19 versions filed in the chamber by February.

Diwa party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay, one of the principal authors of the bill, said there should be no more delays in its approval since a consolidated version was already approved on third and final reading in the 14th Congress.

Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene Bag-ao said the committee must act decisively and called on her colleagues to “do away with delays that will only force us to tread the path backwards.”

Charter change

House leaders also revived calls for Charter change as they vowed to pass measures that would at least relax the restrictive economic provisions within the first quarter of next year to boost the flow of investments into the country.

Belmonte had filed Concurrent Resolution No. 1, which seeks to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution via the normal legislative route to allow more foreign investor participation in local industries, at the opening of the 16th Congress.

He described his resolution as “simple,” which is to amend certain economic provisions by inserting the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.“

He said his proposal “doesn’t lift prohibitions” but enables Congress and the President to change the figures and eliminate it through law, referring to restrictions on full foreign ownership on certain industries and land.

The resolution covers Articles 2, 12 and 16 and the amendments would have to be approved separately by the Senate and the House by two-thirds of their members, and subjected to a nationwide plebiscite.