Palace freezes P9B in solons’ ‘pork’

If there are many gloomy faces in the House of Representatives and the Senate these days, it could be because Congress has become the biggest casualty of the government’s failure to collect enough revenues.

Due to budgetary constraints, Malacañang has decided to freeze at least P9 billion in pork barrel funds of senators and congressmen.

Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin relayed the Palace decision to congressmen in a closed-door meeting earlier this week.

House sources told The STAR yesterday that members of Congress should forget about half of their pork barrel this year because government coffers are empty and the Arroyo administration is in fact facing a soaring budget deficit.

Congressmen have at least P60 million each in "pork" this year, while senators have P200 million each. Half of the pork barrel funds of 220 House members that is frozen amount to a total of P6.6 billion, plus P2.4 billion from the 24-member Senate.

Congressmen said even the first half of P30 million has not been released in full.

Reacting to the Palace freeze decision, Rep. Charity Leviste (Lakas, Oriental Mindoro) said lawmakers cannot do anything about it.

"We have to live with it. We have to share in the sacrifice," she said.

Two other House members, Representatives Willie Buyson Villarama of Bulacan and Prospero Nograles of Davao City, renewed their call for the ouster of Commissioner Rene Bañez of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) whom they blamed for the national government’s financial predicament.

Villarama said the entire nation suffers when the BIR, the Bureau of Customs and other revenue-generating agencies fail to meet their collection targets.

He said their constituents would have difficulty coming to terms with why the government won’t be able to build small irrigation canals, farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities, and similar infrastructure in their districts.

Nograles said President Arroyo should sideline Bañez or give him another job.

"Sa basketball, kapag hindi nakapuntos ang player, bangko kaagad. That is what President Arroyo should do with Bañez," he said.

Like the national government, the House of Representatives, which has a budget of more than P2 billion this year, is in a financial bind.

Upon the instructions of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., the committee on accounts chaired by Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Lakas, Surigao del Norte) has resorted to cost-cutting measures.

Barbers said the House boss has banned foreign travel starting this month.

"Foreign trips will only be allowed if they are pursuant to international commitments, such as attendance in parliamentary conferences," he said.

He said free lunch in committee meetings has been discontinued and unnecessary overtime work by personnel has been disallowed.

Despite the ban on foreign travel, De Venecia is leading a small delegation to an Asian parliamentary conference in Hanoi early next month.

In a related development, Mrs. Arroyo has approved the proposal of Bataan Rep. Enrique Garcia for the BIR, Customs and other revenue-raising agencies to hook up on-line with their authorized collecting banks.

"This way, these agencies can easily check who paid what and go after those with delayed payments or delinquencies. This is what utilities like Meralco, Maynilad, telephone companies, and credit card firms, among others, have been doing," he said.

In the case of the revenue agencies, Garcia said the collecting banks do not inform them what they have received in tax payments and from whom.

The banks are also allowed to keep the money and even use it before remitting it to the treasury, he said.

It is this system that has given rise to diversion of tax payments and other fraud, he added.