‘Budget OK an abuse of discretion’

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers committed abuse of discretion when they surreptitiously inserted projects – for pork funding – in the P3.7-trillion budget program for this year, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

Drilon, who voted on Friday against the approval of the 2019 budget program by the bicameral conference committee, said he did not sign the 50-page bicam report because he and his colleagues were given only 15 minutes to analyze the document.

“We should not have abused our prerogative. There was abuse of discretion on the part of many legislators in inserting their projects in the budget,” said Drilon in an interview over radio station dwIZ.

But amid concerns over pork in disguise in the budget program, Malacañang emphasized the executive branch will do its own rechecking to make sure everything is in accordance with the Constitution.

“We assure the nation that the executive branch upon its receipt of the enrolled General Appropriations Bill will thoroughly review the same to ensure that all items comply with the Constitution and the law and, more importantly, they redound to the benefit of the Filipino people,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

Drilon, meanwhile, likened the signing of the bicam report to signing a blank check. “We were given the bicam report for signing at 2 p.m. – 50 pages in all. It’s P3.7 trillion in taxpayers’ money that we’re supposed to appropriate but not given enough time to examine,” he said.

“Yes, pork is not allowed anymore. But here, it’s full of pork,” he added.

He said the matter should be raised before the Supreme Court, which had declared the allocation of pork barrel unconstitutional.

Another vocal critic of pork, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, said lawmakers apparently were able to go around the Supreme Court ruling against pork.

He said P20 billion or P60 million each for almost 300 congressmen had been included in the 2019 national budget.

“As today’s reality unfolds before us, we cannot deny that the ruling unintentionally resulted in unbridled pork consumption of legislators – from then estimated P70-million pork allocation per congressman in 2003 to at least P408 million this year, if we go by the document shared by House Committee on Appropriations chairman Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya,”  Lacson said in a privilege speech Friday night ahead of the ratification of the budget program.

Discrepancy

In his privilege speech, Lacson noted that the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) set a P480-billion budget ceiling for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as against the National Expenditure Program (NEP)’s proposed P555-billion budget for the DPWH.

“It takes basic arithmetic to know that there is a difference of P75 billion between the DBCC’s budget ceiling and that of the NEP’s – such an exorbitant additional amount unrecognized by the DPWH secretary and Diokno simply referred to as ‘adjustment’,” Lacson said, referring to public works chief Mark Villar and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

“A valid source had a word in our ears that the P75 billion had been earlier peddled to contractors across the country, region by region, at a 20 percent commission per project cost. That would be a sum of P15 billion worth of taxpayers’ money to the pockets of its proponents and cohorts,” Lacson said.

He said records would reveal that P11 billion of the P75 billion was actually under Automatic Appropriations, specifically the Motor Vehicle User Charge (MVUC).

When he was still majority leader, Andaya claimed that many House members aligned with then speaker Pantaleon Alvarez turned out to be proponents and ultimately beneficiaries of the P75-billion “insertion or adjustment” made by the DBM. Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would later replace Alvarez as speaker.

Lacson said Arroyo disregarded the budget’s plenary approval on second reading and formed a small group committee that mangled the proposed DPWH budget beyond recognition.

“Simply put, the apparent pork insertions from the alleged connivance of the DBM and the old leadership of the House of Representatives were deliberately reallocated by the newly-assumed leadership as their own pork barrel,” he said.

‘Evil reincarnate’

Lacson spoke of pork barrel emerging as “an evil reincarnate, taunting and tempting us, hiding in the shroud of feigned public service. “

“Pork proves that the irresistible lure of money moves men and women of power who should be the guardians of the public treasury, to devise cunning machinations to further their own selfish interests,” Lacson said in his manifestation before voting against the ratification of the General Appropriations Bill.

“We could all be complicit in introducing our own pork to the budget of the DPWH,” he said.

“But since I am absolutely sure that I have not availed of any portion of the P23.2 billion, and I have knowledge that quite a number of our colleagues likewise did not partake of whatever slice there was from that P23.2-billion pizza pie, ergo, some members of this chamber must be smarter and luckier than the others,” he said.

But Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the finance committee, denied there was pork in the budget.

“Infrastructure itself is not pork. There are no imagined projects here. All are requested by agencies and have program of work,” Legarda said.

“Agencies make requests, whether it is for a school feeding center, an airport, a bridge, medical equipment,” she said.

Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito lauded the approval of the budget, calling it “pro-health.”  

Ejercito is an author and principal sponsor of the Universal Health Care (UHC) measure.

Sen. Sonny Angara said P1.5 billion in the 2019 budget was allocated for salary adjustments and promotions of teaching personnel in state universities and colleges (SUCs).

“The wait is over,” said Angara, vice chairman of the Senate committee on finance and head of the sub-committee that tackled the spending package of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and SUCs.  – With Christina Mendez,  Paolo Romero