SCUTTLEBUTT

An economist gave Nosy Tarsee an inside view of elected officials’ overflowing greed, particularly in obtaining pork barrel funds which has not changed despite the 2013 Supreme Court decision declaring the discretionary funds of legislators unconstitutional.

“What happened after 12 years? Millions, now we have billions because we did not change any. Well, the pork barrel was declared unconstitutional, but at the same time, the behavior behind the pork barrel, the idea behind the pork barrel has remained. Because the discretion to be able to insert infrastructure projects shouldn’t be the job of legislators. That created that rent-seeking opportunity,” the economist, a UP School of Economics professor, said.

He was referring to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) which provided each senator P200 million and House member P70 million yearly in projects and cash aid to their constituents.

After this was outlawed, members of Congress devised other ways to source lump-sum funds in the budget that were far larger than the PDAF allocations.

The economist worries the government is merely controlling the narrative on corruption.

“Do you really believe there are only two senators involved in this issue? Or only Zaldy Co in the House of Representatives. I mean, really?” he asked.

In response to the insistence of some legislators that insertions are their prerogative, the professor said, in that case, they should list the insertions and present them to the public.

Let’s make all those lists public so we will see if these are relevant to the communities or if they undergo a process of identification.

The academician believes that if the insertions list were made public, corrupt practices not only in Bulacan would be identified.

“I mean, so imagine the extent of the corruption that’s happening in the country. And to be honest, what we’re seeing is just, you know, we’re scratching the surface. And for the President to dismiss this as if ‘I’m now done with this.’”