Arroyo allies in House justify bigger ‘pork’ in 2007 budget

Allies of President Arroyo in the House of Representatives justified yesterday their collective decision to increase their 2007 pork barrel allocations from P40 million to P70 million per congressman.

In a joint statement, Deputy Speaker Gerry Salapuddin and Leyte Rep. Eduardo Veloso said the increase "is just fair, not for election purposes, but for the government to pay back the people through projects for all their sacrifice to help save the country from its fiscal woes a couple of years ago."

They said the people took the "bitter pill" two years ago when they absorbed higher taxes Congress imposed on them to shore up government revenues.

"Our sacrifices have paid off in bigger revenue collections. It’s only proper that we give back to the people what they deserve, like better services and more projects," they said.

They urged the lawmakers’ constituents to monitor their projects and expose those who misuse taxpayers’ money.

The congressional pork barrel has been a source of corruption for many House members and bureaucrats implementing their projects.

The most recent cases involved congressmen diverting their funds to family foundations and personal bank accounts, and using their allocations for scholarship grants to students enrolled in schools that their families own or control.

Some party-list representatives have joined in the act of making dirty money out of the congressional pork barrel. The Commission on Audit has discovered that several party-list congressmen have allotted funds for the purchase of liquid fertilizer that was overpriced by more than 1,000 percent.

Despite confirmed reports that certain House members were involved in the improper use of taxpayers’ money, none of them was punished.

Over the weekend, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, appropriations committee chairman, admitted that the House increased congressional allocations for next year by P9 billion to P21.3 billion.