Governors back Ping on pork abolition

Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson has expressed full support for the proposal of Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson for the total abolition of the pork barrel.

Singson, national chairman of the League of Governors of the Philippines, said he will strongly urge fellow governors to talk to their congressmen and to their senator-friends and persuade them to give up their pork barrel allocations, if not permanently, then at least until the current fiscal crisis is over.

Singson acknowledged his political differences with Lacson but said that in times like these, "we must cast all politics aside, make sacrifices and work together to strengthen the government so it can better serve the people."

Lacson had challenged his colleagues in the Senate to give up their entire pork barrel for the next budget year to help the government deal with the fiscal crisis.

Several senators earlier agreed to cut their share of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, as the pork barrel is known in the legislature. Lacson, who gave up his PDAF since 2002, said the gesture of some of his colleagues, while laudable, was halfhearted.

"If the aim is to help the government, let us do it wholeheartedly," he was quoted as having said.

"Many are perhaps wondering why all of a sudden I am expressing my unqualified support for the proposal of a known political foe of mine," Singson said in a statement. "The administration, of which I am an elected official, does not have a monopoly of laudable proposals. So when a member of the opposition makes one such proposal, we in the administration should not hesitate to acknowledge and support it. We owe this much to the people who chose us to serve them."

Singson said he plans to meet with members of the League of Governors shortly to formalize their position on the pork barrel and then write Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia to formally inform them of the league’s stand.