House bloats pork barrel by P9 B

The House of Representatives has increased congressional pork barrel allocations by P9 billion, to P21.3 billion.

"Yes, I can confirm that. I cannot tell a lie," Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, appropriations committee chairman, told The STAR yesterday when asked if congressmen made good their promise to pad the pork barrel before approving the proposed P1.126-trillion 2007 budget last Friday morning.

He said House members’ allocations were increased from P40 million each to P70 million, while those of senators were adjusted from P120 million to P200 million each.

Pork barrel allocations are computed on the basis of the total membership of the two chambers (236 for the House and 24 for the Senate).

"We just restored the funds to their pre-2004 levels. I think the restoration is reasonable, next year being an election year," Salceda said.

He said while the allocations were cut by 40 percent two years ago due to the government’s financial difficulties, most pro-administration congressmen actually received P30 million extra from Malacañang.

He said he did not know if Palace allies in the Senate were getting additional funds.

Salceda added it was better if the allocations were officially fixed in the budget at P70 million per House member and P200 million per senator.

Since 2004, lawmakers have approved several tax bills to shore up government revenues. These include the expanded value added tax that imposed a 10 percent VAT (which was later increased to 12 percent) on electricity, and gasoline, diesel and other oil products.

Because of the increase in tax revenues, there have been calls from congressmen for the restoration of their pork barrel allocations, saying part of the collections should be returned to the people as "VAT dividends."

While his colleagues like to describe the restored funds as dividends, Salceda calls them "rebates."

Sponsoring the budget two weeks ago, he likened it to a "record book of the rebates that will be given back to the people."

"This budget bill shows in what form these rebates will be. They may be in the form of a classroom in a far-flung barangay or farm-to-market road to bring the farmers’ produce to the city. These are just small projects, but they touch and change the life of a simple farmer or barrio folk," he said.

By Salceda’s own admission, the "rebates" that he said taxpayers are entitled to would come from only a fifth or less of the trillion-peso budget.

He pointed out that 78 percent or P878 billion of the outlay "represents mandatory expenses" that are "out of Congress’ discretion."

Of that amount, P357 billion will be for salaries, P184 billion for the internal revenue allotment of local government units, P318 billion for interest payments, and P19 billion for "other mandatory expenditures."

"The balance of 22 percent will support the regular operations of various government agencies amounting to P140 billion and about P108 billion for capital outlays, of which P84 billion will be for investment in infrastructure development," Salceda said.

And of that minuscule P84 billion, which is roughly 7.5 percent of the P1.126-trillion 2007 budget, P21.3 billion would be spent for the pet projects of senators and congressmen.

All members of Congress, except for opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, avail of their funds, though in 2004, then Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Alfredo Lim joined Lacson in giving up their allocations.

The pork barrel has been a source of corruption for many lawmakers and bureaucrats implementing their projects. There have been confirmed reports of House members diverting their funds to their family foundations and personal bank accounts, and funding scholars enrolled in their schools.

For opposition congressmen, pork barrel funds, whether amounting to P40 million or P70 million, are meaningless if Malacañang chooses to impound them.

According to Minority Leader Francis Escudero, the Palace has not released even a single centavo of his and his colleagues’ 2006 allocations. He blames this on politics.

The extensive damage caused two weeks ago by typhoon "Milenyo" in his district in Sorsogon has prompted Escudero to appeal for the release of opposition lawmakers’ funds.

Other opposition congressmen have been complaining that the funds they have allotted to the Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney Institute and other government hospitals in Metro Manila and the provinces for sick constituents needing their help would soon dry up.

Before the House killed the new impeachment complaint against President Arroyo two months ago, her chief of staff, former Quezon City congressman Mike Defensor, said Malacañang would not release funds to opposition congressmen.

"Why would the Palace make taxpayers’ money available to those who want the President out and replaced?" Defensor asked.