House says no ‘pork barrel’ insertions in P3.7-trillion budget

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives won’t insert pork barrel funds in the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 national budget, leaders of the chamber assured senators yesterday.

They made the assurance in the wake of the apprehension aired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson that congressmen might pad the budget with “pork.”

“The leadership of the House will be observant of the Supreme Court ruling, most specially regarding lump-sum funds and the role of legislators in budget authorization,” Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said.

He was referring to the court’s 2013 decision striking down the annual P25-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the annual budget as unconstitutional.

“The process we will observe will be no different from the process adopted by the Senate,” Andaya, a former budget secretary, said.

“We will stick to the SC ruling. I am sure Sen. Lacson’s apprehensions will not happen,” Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said at a news conference.

Deputy minority leader and Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said “there is no pork in the budget because it has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. We will abide by that.” He said he hoped Lacson was misquoted.

“Otherwise, I would advise him to look around the Senate because there are many out there who benefited from their pork through Napoles who are still around and even running for re-election,” he said.

Detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles is the suspected mastermind of the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

She is facing plunder charges, together with former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr., and their senior aides. Enrile and Estrada are out on bail, while Revilla is detained. Estrada plans to run again for a Senate seat in 2019.

The old PDAF used to allocate P200 million for each senator and P70 million for each House member every year.

In declaring it as unconstitutional, the SC ruled that lump-sum funds, the details of which are supplied by lawmakers after the budget is enacted, are not allowed.

The tribunal also prohibited senators and congressmen from interfering in the implementation of projects funded in the annual outlay, saying this is purely a function of the executive branch.

However, the high court’s ruling does not prohibit lawmakers from proposing or including projects for funding while they are considering the budget.

Several senators and most House members have thus taken advantage of this to include their projects in the annual spending program before it is enacted.

The unwritten rule is that senators are still allocated P200 million each, while congressmen have increased their allocation to P80 million each with the consent of Malacañang.

A few senators, including Lacson, are not availing of their allotment.

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has assured her colleagues, including those belonging to the opposition, that all legislative districts would get the funds they deserve.

Last year, ousted speaker Pantaleon Alvarez defunded 24 districts, mostly represented by the opposition.

Funding restored

Lawmakers have also crossed party lines to restore at least P217 billion in funding reductions for critical agencies under the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 national budget.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, appropriations committee chairman, said yesterday he could not understand why the Department of Budget and Management made the substantial cuts.

He said the Department of Public Works and Highways suffered a P95-billion reduction, while the Department of Education would have to make do with an allocation lower by P77 billion.

On the other hand, he said the Department of Health would have P35 billion less for next year compared to this year, while the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Commission on Elections would each suffer a P5-billion cut.

“It will be difficult for us to explain to our countrymen why we are reducing the amount of money we will appropriate for classrooms, barangay health centers, education, roads and bridges at a time when we have imposed new and higher taxes,” he stressed.

Suarez said revenue agencies have reported a “surplus in collection” due to the enactment of the controversial Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

“The revenue collection reached P1.41 trillion, which is nine percent higher than the target. Putting it simply, we have more money now. Therefore, to us in the minority, it seems odd that we raised and collected more taxes and yet the budget for our people decreased. The minority will not take this lightly,” he said.

Atienza said he and his colleagues are “deeply concerned with the funding reductions critical agencies will suffer in 2019.”

The budgetary cuts would definitely affect the delivery of social services like education, health and infrastructure, he said.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, who belongs to the minority group of former majority leader Rodolfo Fariñas, said the House of Representatives should restore the reductions.

“We have the power to do it, so let’s do it. Let’s not sacrifice the welfare of our people. Less money for critical agencies means less money in terms of services for the people,” he said.

He said more revenues from new and higher taxes should translate to additional classrooms, roads, health centers and financial assistance to the poor.

The appropriations committee is now on its second week of hearings on the proposed 2019 national budget.

According to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, several agencies that are projected to have a funding surplus this year were targeted for budgetary reduction.

Obligation to LGUs

Senators, meanwhile, warned economic managers yesterday against declaring the country as having an “unmanageable fiscal deficit” to skirt a Supreme Court ruling ordering the national government to pay local government units nearly P200 billion next year as their Internal Revenue Allotment. – With Paolo Romero