Where’s the pork?

A leader of the House of Representatives yesterday expressed puzzlement where the billions of pesos in pork barrel funds are hidden in the proposed 2019 national budget as claimed by Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.

Majority Leader Rolando Andaya said the House has been following a 2013 Supreme Court (SC) ruling that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers is unconstitutional.

He said lawmakers have no control over the funding for their “pet” projects as funding goes directly to DPWH.

Andaya surmised that the “pork” Lacson was referring to may be for big-ticket projects costing P500 million and above which are implemented by DPWH regional offices.

Lacson said this week that notwithstanding PDAF being declared illegal by the SC five years ago, pork barrel funds are still present in the yearly budget passed by Congress.

“It runs to hundreds of billions of pesos. If you think the pork has left, no, it hasn’t left,” Lacson had said.

But Andaya was not ready to cross swords with Lacson as he welcomed the senator being alert against the return of PDAF.

“It’s good that he is there and always on the guard,” Andaya said. “He can also help in improving our use of our budget.”

The congressman said the legislative and executive departments have agreed to implement a “hybrid” budgeting system for 2019, both cash-based and obligation-based.