Pimentel: No ‘pork’ in P3.35-T budget

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said yesterday funds allocated for projects initiated by lawmakers in this year’s P3.35-trillion national budget were not “pork.” 

Pimentel said the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the Priority Development Assistance Fund in 2013 prohibits only lawmakers’ intervention in implementing their projects after the national budget is signed into law.

“The essence of the decision of the SC is not about the label or the pork barrel, but the act which is unconstitutional – that is, the involvement of legislators in implementing the budget, in making the budget complete after the budget law has been enacted,” Pimentel said.

“In this particular case, when a legislator helps in the budget process but it can be implemented after the enactment of the budget law without the legislator’s intervention, then that is no longer the act declared unconstitutional by the SC,” he added.

Pimentel added the preparation of the budget is a function of the executive branch, which has its own “style” of allocation, depending on the administration, before the proposed budget is submitted to Congress for scrutiny and amendments.

The Senate President cited for example the “bottom-up budgeting” strategy of the Aquino administration that involved local government units.

“If the executive wants to involve other people like legislators, who are we to question the inclusive approach of the executive branch… I find nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is you cannot implement a budget law because you need the intervention of the legislator after the enactment,” Pimentel stressed.

He also denied Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s allegations that each senator was asked to identify at least P300 million worth of projects.

“I never heard an instruction to submit ‘X amount of projects.’ But of course, the budget is a law and once upon a time it was a bill. Hence, it underwent amendments,” Pimentel said.

He also downplayed some administration-allied senators’ reported dissatisfaction with his leadership.

“As in any collegial body, I don’t think there would be 100-percent happiness in each member – that’s okay with me. Even in a grade school class of 40, everybody does not get 100 in the report card. If it’s a petty matter, let’s not talk about it,” Pimentel said.

“I don’t look at the petty, but the important things. The leadership of the Senate must have the support of 13 senators at any given time. So, if there is a new senator who has the support of at least 13, then he should lead the Senate,” he added.