EDITORIAL - ‘Pork’ and the FOI bill

The Department of Budget and Management is reportedly reviewing the special audit report conducted over two years by the Commission on Audit on lawmakers’ utilization of their pork barrel from 2007 to 2009. The DBM move appears to have been prompted by mistakes in the COA report, notably on two supposed highlights of its findings: P3 billion allotted to Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora when he was a congressman representing Compostela Valley, and P20 million to a “ghost” executive named Luis Abalos, who turned out to be Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos.

The amount that was supposed to have gone to Zamora, now vice governor of Compostela Valley, in fact went to the Department of Public Works and Highways, the DBM has announced. DBM officials are now combing through the voluminous COA report, with all its annexes, to see if there are other mistakes.

DBM and COA officials could have been assisted in data verification by the citizenry if a Freedom of Information Act had been in place. The FOI bill, kicked around for a decade by the legislature, has been re-filed in the 16th Congress. Such a law could compel transparency in the utilization of the congressional pork barrel, euphemistically called the Priority Development Assistance Fund. An FOI law can also compel transparency in the utilization of funds by the judiciary, notably the Supreme Court, and by the Office of the President, which has its own pork barrel.

With many eyes scrutinizing each lawmaker’s PDAF proposals and actual fund releases, the abuse of the fund could have been avoided. Transparency rules, and the possibility of being caught, can curb venality even among the most shameless public officials. With transparency rules, the corrupt can be left with no choice but to moderate if not eliminate their greed.

The PDAF gives a president some leverage to influence the legislative agenda even when Congress is hostile to Malacañang. President Aquino reportedly prefers to regulate rather than abolish the pork barrel. If he wants to win over critics, those tighter rules for fund utilization should be presented and implemented quickly, with provisions for ensuring transparency and accountability. The public is also waiting for a similar special COA report covering PDAF utilization under the Aquino administration. For the 16th Congress, passage of the FOI law will show its sincerity in bringing transparency to fund utilization.