'Common practice' in Congress: Solons trade pork barrel

MANILA, Philippines - A former lawmaker on Monday defended the reported "swapping" of the Priority Development Assistance Fund in the House of Representatives, saying it was a common practice among legislators.

Pangasinan Third District Rep. Ma. Rachel Arenas said in a statement that unknown to many, it was a common practice among lawmakers to exchange or trade funds allocated for soft projects -- such as fertilizers, medicines, sponsorship of sports leagues, scholarships -- for hard projects such as infrastructure.

Arenas was the subject of media reports over the weekend, which initially revealed that she spent part of her pork barrel outside her district in 2012 and early this year. However, she admitted in later reports that she swapped her PDAF.

Data from the website of the Department of Budget and Management show that Arenas released P15 million of her pork barrel in 2012 to fund various projects in Abra province and Manila. Last January, she also spent P20 million for projects in Compostela Valley province and again in Manila.

In her statement on Monday, Arenas said that the lawmakers in the districts where she funded various projects gave the same amount of pork barrel in return to fund infrastructure projects for her constituents.

"There are lawmakers who prefer soft projects, while others, like myself, prefer hard projects which were then more beneficial for my district, and aimed to hasten development and and uplift the living conditions of my constituents," Arenas said.

The former congresswoman also defended the trading of pork barrel, saying the annual P70-million PDAF for Lower House members is same for all districts regardless of the size.

"The swapping [Priority Development Assistance Fund] allocation is just one of the means by which big districts, such as ours, are able to maximize the limited PDAF allocation," she explained.

Davao City Second District Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano earlier admitted having swapped her PDAF worth P9.45 million with that of her father-in-law Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano.

However, Garcia-Albano said there was nothing anomalous with the transaction as the same amount was also returned to her district by her father-in-law in the form of other projects, which were approved by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Records from the DBM showed that P9.45 million worth of Albano’s PDAF for 2012 was spent in Isabela, the home province of her husband.

Garcia-Albano’s PDAF was spent in five “hard projects” in Isabela like drainage repairs, road concreting and construction of multi-purpose buildings.

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