House pork woes

“Looks like Cayeteno won’t be speaker for three years.

“Looks like Cayeteno won’t be speaker for three years.

Congressmen probably heaved a big sigh of relief after big time “pork hunter” Senator Panfilo Lacson some days ago declared that the House of Representatives’ version of the 2020 national budget appears to be pork-free, “as of now.”

Lacson spoke too soon, and oops, Lacson later saw strains of the African swine fever pork that almost escaped his attention. Congressmen should try another place in the budget to hide the parked pork for the 2021 budget or wait for the 2023 budget, since Lacson will already have been done with his six-year term. Haven’t congressmen still learned that lump sum can’t pass the pork scrutiny test?

“The only definition of pork by congressmen is the post-legislation intervention. In this case, the parked allocations were lump sum,” Lacson told reporters, adding that lump sums are also considered pork, following the Supreme Court (SC) ruling, which said that “if the budgeting amounts to abuse of discretion, it’s still pork. If it’s lump sum, then it’s still prone to abuse of discretion.”

It does look like happy days for some congressmen who lust after their pork are over — at least for the length of the 2020 budget, as Lacson Monday said that there are “parked allocations” with a total P20 billion in the House version.

As most Filipinos know, pork is what many congressmen live for, despite their many allowances and perks. However, there must also be something said about pork barrel, which is not necessarily evil, although it has to be admitted that more times than none, the pork barrel allocations are not only being abused by some, if not many, congressmen.

In all practicality, and not abused or used by congressmen and yes, some senators too, for their selfish purposes, such as making money though commissions out of their the “parked” lump sum pork — it also has to be said that congressmen, mayors, and other local government executives have a need for their pork barrel, if only to improve the conditions of their constituents — not necessarily to make money for themselves out of their pork allocations. But the general perception is that there are few, if any in Congress starving for their pork fund commissions, that may explain why too many buildings, road works and other projects are clearly stamped substandard projects.

Perhaps lawmakers who feel being deprived of their pork allocations despite their sometimes good intentions for their constituents, should go the SC for it to maybe take another look at the pork barrel allocations decision because the way pork things stand today, given that the budget is being scrutinized, there does not seem to be a way out for the congressmen, unless they bow to the different department heads and beg for their pet projects to be not only prioritized but also to be included in the Department of Budget and Management, and other departments. Lawmakers may end up lucky yet, although admittedly, it appears to be a steep hill for congressmen to climb.

The pork barrel allocations, hidden or not, also depends on the sitting president — whoever he or she is — because if the sitting president is not hot on the issue of the pork allocation, hidden or not, would find no objection from the chief executive.

Unfortunately for congressmen, under the regime of President Duterte and with the head pork hunting senator much too hot on the “unconstitutional hidden lump sum” pork allocations, the current president is also allergic to legislative pork barrel.

But it should be asked: pork barrel is still pork barrel. So why is the heat on only for the congressional pork barrel, when department chiefs and even the presidential offices must have their own interpretations of pork barrel allocations that are not called pork?

To recall, it wasn’t the some kind of “pork barrel” of the executive department and the judiciary that was challenged before the High Court, and to stress, the proposed budgets of different executive offices, such as the Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President were quickly passed in minutes without question by Congress, and for sure, the Senate. The same went for the SC and the entire judiciary department.

There were cuts however, in some department heads’ budget, as Lacson earlier said P10.4 billion worth of questionable projects were stashed in the Department of Public Works and Highways while another P4 billion was hidden under the “Other Financial Assistance to LGU (local government units)” in the budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

That’s probably the half of what the House has passed on for the congressmen’s 20 billion parked pork.

Just prior to pork hunting Lacson declaring that the House budget appears to be pork free, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. on Monday said he felt “vindicated” by the senator’s new assessment that the 2020 budget bill was free of congressional pork insertions.

Villafuerte said the senator’s words were a “tribute to the transformative leadership” of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano who “made sure that the proposed budget bill was passed in a highly transparent manner and bereft of pork, illegal insertions and ‘parking’ of funds.”

Oops, looks like Cayetano won’t be speaker for three years.