Pork barrel and poor workers

The budget for 2014 is now in the hands of Congress. Many of our honorable Senators and Congressmen have made some bold declarations that they will cross party lines to screen very rigidly and prudently each line item of the proposed National Appropriation Act for next year. Those big words could only be interpreted to mean, based on their proven track record, that the Legislature will only pass the budget if their vested interest, the  PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund)of P200 million for every senator and P70 million for every representative is in the barrel, like the salted pork, from which this system originated in the US history. And so, even if the President  wants to follow a straight and narrow path of righteousness, he will have to play ball with the politicians, whether party mates or not. If he stands like a rock and refuses to compromise, then his budget will not pass and his programs of government are bound to fail.

The proposed appropriation next year is a whopping 2.268 trillion pesos. To support such a gargantuan financial burden, the government will either source the funding from taxation or domestic and foreign borrowing. Taxes will have to be raised perhaps in geometric proportions and custom duties will have to be doubled, if not tripled, in order to fund this unprecedented huge budget. That could only  mean that prices shall go up, the cost of living shall escalate, the workers' purchasing power shall be further eroded, and life will worsen even more and more. Again, development shall be pursued at the expense of the working class. The poor shall be taxed to death and a large chunk of the money shall go to the pockets of our esteemed and selfless public servants.

The minimum amount of 27 billion pesos in next year's budget is earmarked for pork barrel. Each of the 24 senators are allocated at least 200 million for one year only. That would mean P4.8 billion for the Senate alone. Each congressman will get at least P70 million each or P14 billion for 200 representatives, assuming that the rest will refuse to have anything to do with pork. A group of progressive members of the House filed House Bill No 1535, entitled " An Act Abolishing The Pork Barrel System By Prohibiting The Allocation And Use Of Funds For Such Purpose". Delicadeza dictates that the authors, who belong the so-called Makabayan Bloc, should decline any such allocation. My fearless prediction is that such a bold ''suntok sa buwan'' will not even get to the Committee Level. The powerful Budget Commitee will kill it on first sight.

Pork barrel is not the monopoly of Congress. Malacanang has a big share of the pie. The total pork for both Houses amounts to 18.8 billion only. That means that at least 8.2 billion is in the hands of the President's men in the Palace. But that  is peanuts compared to the 62.66 billion euphemistically called PPPP or Pantawid Pamilya Poverty Program. This put in the hands of the DSWD Secretary, an alter ego of the President, to distribute to 444 million households and supposedly to benefit 10.2 million children of the poorest of the poor. The choice of recipients is also vulnerable to political importuning of local trapos and political allies and sycophants, as current realities do indicate.

Next year, no less than 352.7 billion is earmarked  for debt service. Then, 399.4 billion is allocated for massive infrastructure development, out of which 21.1 billion is for irrigation systems construction, rehab and restoration. The transport system will get 188.1 billion for construction of roads. Education will get 336.9 billion for construction of 43,183 classrooms and repair of 9,503, and for acquisition of 1.6 million desks. Philhealth will single-handedly get 35.3 billion. In all these, the trapos will poke their fingers into the barrel for pork. And so, the poor will have to work harder because they will carry on their shoulders the burden of carrying these barrels for our esteemed public servants. Happy days are here again for the people we call honorable. And God, have mercy on us.