Pork Barrel In the Philippines
Systems Plus College Foundation
Balibago, Angeles City
Introduction
To
Modern Politics
Jennelle F. Africano
AB Political Science/PSC05A
Mr. Christopher Flake
Instructor
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Pork Barrel In the Philippines
Nowadays, all over the television radio and internet Philippine
news was all about the controversial “Pork Barrel Scam” In August
2013 nationwide was blown, actually during past regimes Pork
Barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund became the biggest
source of corruption among the legislators that’s why Filipinos are
not that shocked among this corruption issues arising in our country
because we are very used to massive graft and corruption. Over the
₱10 Billion PDAF scam involving Janet Lim-Napoles, Senators and
Congressmen led to widespread calls for abolition of the PDAF
system. The term "pork barrel" is the budgetary allocation given to
the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The
amount was ₱70 Million for each of the Congressmen and ₱200
Million for each of the Senators beginning in the year 2006.
Pork barrel formally defined as the appropriations of public funds
for projects that do not serve the interests of any large portion of
the country’s citizens but are nevertheless vigorous promoted by a
small group of legislators because they will pump outside
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Pork Barrel In the Philippines
taxpayers’ money and resources into the local districts these
legislators represent; an effective legislation and use of pork barrel
results into the legislator being re-elected. For me, pork barrel funds
are those allocated to politicians such as congressmen and
senators, to be used, based on their decision, to fund programs or
projects in their districts and fund their pockets. Supposed to be
Pork barrel undermines the primary duty of Congress to draft and
pass laws for the common good. It preserves and protects vested
interests of those who are in power. The present-day P10-billion
PDAF scam and the many billion’s more in anomalies of the past are
a testament to this evil perpetuating social injustice.
If we would ask some Filipinos, to what do they know about “Pork
Barrel?” basically some of them will said “I don’t know about Pork
Barrel.” We are citizens of the Philippines and we must be searching
and making ourselves intact with the controversies happening
around us. Why do they just ignore this? Because they know that no
matter what happens to the government, corruption will still occur.
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Pork Barrel In the Philippines
Money runs the world and that is a fact, basically where do this
Priority Development Assistance Fund coming from? This PDAF
comes from the taxpayers; this huge amount of money comes from
the workers, from us the Filipino citizens. Should we let this not
trustworthy official’s just pocket some parts of our salary that we
must have been enjoying instead of paying tax to them? Yes indeed
we have our responsibility being a citizen of the Philippines; we are
doing and giving our share, the government and the government
official should also do their part as public officials. This seems to be
so unfair. Pork Barrel or PDAF should be used for funding the needs
of the people, improvements of public facilities, public
transportation etc. Funding and helping people who are calamity
victims- although we have separate budget for calamity victims, we
can still use this PDAF for public welfare and public used. Another is
for allocating budget to create agencies to help citizens have a
source of living and make them productive. So that poverty in our
country will decrease. The big question is, where do these huge
amount going to? Pork Barrel is a fund rendered by the national
government for the senators and the congressmen. It was once
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Pork Barrel In the Philippines
headed as Countrywide Development Fund and later as
Congressional Development Fund. It is presently branded as Priority
Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). It used to be a catch phrase
only few Filipinos care about, until it roared into a public awareness
when an appalling spam of it arose. Some surveys show that this
has been the alternative way of the elected senators and
congressmen to put back their expenses from the election
campaign. Apparently, this served as the milking cow of those who
are in power. The supposed fund for the local innovations and
improvements are trapped by the legislators who were entitled to
administer it. This has caused an immense damage on our nation’s
wealth.
These grounds are sufficient to finally eradicate the pork barrel. It
has an evident effect being a core of corruption. Instead of fostering
the needs of the less fortunate, it provides the pockets of those who
are in power.
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Pork Barrel In the Philippines
Last August 26, 2013, the Million People March was held which
occurred on National Heroes' Day called for the end of "pork barrel" and
was joined by simultaneous protests nationwide and around the world.
Because of controversial Janet Lim Napoles, including the senators:
Ramon Revilla Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Bongbong Marcos
and Gringo Honasan. All of them transfer some amount Pork Barrel or
PDAF to NGO’s (Non-Government Organization). To which according to
Commission on Audit transferring any amount of PDAF to NGO’s or Non-
Government Organization is illegal. Basically the mind setting of the
people was this senator pocketed their PDAF for personal use. The
nation has been disgusted by the pork barrel scandal for some time
now. The pork barrel funds of some legislators appear to have been
siphoned off to some fictitious NGO’s with high sounding names and
into the big pocket of one enterprising scam artist. According to an
investigation conducted by the government (and reported widely in the
media) the P10 Billion of PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund)
money, the program financed by pork barrel, which had been disbursed
over some years, had been embezzled. President Aquino has indicated
that he will reform the system. Initially, his statement was that he
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would abolish the pork barrel system. It is not clear how the system will
change yet. Should we abolish Pork Barrel? Yes, No or we Just need to
Reform it. In fact, little will be lost and a lot will be gained if the system
is abolished and the funds directed to better targeted programs. Almost
every one of us knows or has heard that the pork barrel system is
joined with corruption. If the Pork Barrel is joined with corruption, then
to stop corruption we must abolished this Pork Barrel thing. Some says
that we should not abolished Pork Barrel because not all PDAF budget
are wasted to fictitious government projects some of the money are
allotted indeed to help and improve public welfare. Maybe there are still
good Samaritans in the Philippine government officials. On the other
side, President Aquino was not in favor for the abolition in favor for the
abolition of the Pork Barrel, instead he stated that we can reform the
system which holds and organize Pork Barrel or Priority Development
Assistance Fund. Which side must be taken? Which side would fit to
solve this controversy? We better talk about this three sides one by
one.
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Why Abolish the Pork Barrel?
The primary reason is, the PDAF or Priority Development
Assistance Fund the so called Pork Barrel is the top most source of
corruption in our country. It breeds patronage politics and the
politics of immoral compromises between the executive and
legislative branches of government. We are all tax payers’ we need
to know and we need to have the Freedom of Information and the
transparency for every transaction being done in the government.
When the benefit is large and the obligation of the constituents is
small, there is the tendency to demand for an increasing pork value.
Pork barrel promotes inefficiency of public spending resulting to a
loss in the welfare of the greater number of people, that is the
marginal national benefit (benefit of carrying the national plan)
against marginal local benefit (political district project). Looking at
pork barrel as a reward for support of the ruling party’s priority
agenda, of the attribute of the legislator may result to corrupt the
officials of its slightest padding of budget into the most horrendous
misuse of public funds. PDAF projects effectively and efficiently
addresses the needs of the “political constituents” as opposed to
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the national agenda. The misuse of the fund will be reduced when
the mechanism of transparency and accountability will be put in
place and correctly implemented. The money-making story could
range from the receipt of "simple" commission to what has been
reported by the national media recently, which is allocating money
for ghost projects or bogus non-government organizations (NGO’s).
Billions of pesos in public funds have been lost to crooks this way. In
the scam exposed as an alleged P10 billion scheme by some
senators and congressmen in with a doubtful firm, whistle-blowers
and probers named names. They are the proverbial big fishes. The
problem is prosecution that, under our system, is slow and can be
manipulated. It is because of our failure to punish the politician-
crooks that they spread in government, notably the Senate and the
House of Representatives. Because of the recently exposed scam,
calls are again made to abolish the pork barrel. Of course, we know
that won't happen. It's like the call for Congress to pass an anti-
political dynasty bill. As they say, nobody will make a hammer then
bash their own heads with it.
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Opposition to the move won’t only come from senators and
congressmen who stand to lose a source of riches and campaign
funds but also from local government officials who get something
from the monetary windfall. Then there are those who honestly feel
pork barrel is their only way of snagging funds for needed projects.
And what will the members of the committee of silence in Congress
do without pork? The idea of abolishing the PDAF is actually a
choice between the devil and the deep sea.
Doing so would deprive members of Congress of a major source
of “income” but that would also mean congressional districts would
become too dependent on Manila-centric Malacañang for money to
fund needed projects. Retaining the pork barrel, meanwhile, would
mean maintaining the status quo together with all its faults.
For many years Filipinos have suffered because the money of the
government that was supposed to be spent for excellent
infrastructures, roads, education, healthcare, national defense and
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a lot more for the benefit of the people, are just gone to waste. For
a lot of these money went to the pockets of the politicians in the
Senate and the Lower house. They have glut themselves from the
tax payer's money. Our legislators have constantly repeated that
they never handle any of the money involved in the projects, and
just choose the projects, which choices are limited to a list of
projects that “qualify” or are acceptable by guidelines set up by the
Department of Budget and Management. A list, by the way, that is
as wide as all outdoors: livelihood, manpower, sports, and
cooperative development, delivery of basic services, environmental
protection, agricultural and fisheries diversity, rural
industrialization, development of local enterprises, social services in
areas that would not be ordinarily undertaken by the private sector,
and construction, maintenance, operations and management of
infrastructure projects. Do these projects exist? The controversial
Janet Lim Napoles, including the senators: Ramon Revilla Jr., Juan
Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Bongbong Marcos and Gringo
Honasan. All of them transfer some amount Pork Barrel or PDAF to
NGO’s (Non-Government Organization) which I have said stated
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above that transferring any amount of Pork Barrel to Ngo’s is illegal.
The money that was transferred to NGO’s which are supposed to be
used for funding public infrastructure etc. was transformed to just a
ghost projects and the money amounting to Billions disappears and
nowhere to found. Janet Lim Napoles was the pin pointed as master
mind of all this corruption and stealing of public funds which she
used to pamper herself with luxurious and extravagant life. As far
as I have watched in the news Janet Lim Napoles has 28 houses,
here in the Philippines and abroad and also have multiple number
real and personal property which the Commission on Audit (COA)
have questioned Napoles concerning about her assets.
Note: Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged brains of the P10-billion pork barrel
scam whose surrender to President Aquino in Malacañang raised
eyebrows, had her mug shots taken in Camp Crame. She is accused
of serious illegal detention of whistle-blower Benhur Luy, her former
employee and relative.
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She became the middle man for proposing government projects
then recommend and submit it to Congress, when Congressmen
and Senators approved this proposed project basically they have to
give the money to fund this projects, and this money will came from
their own Pork Barrel or PDAF. Yes they have taken some large
amount to their Pork Barrels and give it to the person which will
handle the project. Unfortunately those proposed projects up until
now, does not exist. And the money which they supposed to be
used to fund these projects are gone. I believe that Napoles cannot
just do this on her own; she has a wall to lie on I mean she has the
signal by higher authorities to execute this corruption and pocketing
the pork barrel funds. This P10 Billion Pork Barrel Scam was an
organization of all greedy government officials and their goal is just
to make their pockets thick, to make people believe that they are
good and at your service public official, wherein fact all of that is
their contradictory. See government officials betraying the trust of
the public? How can they be a role model to all of us if they,
themselves has no discipline. Some legislators are very quiet during
this controversy and a few are vocal. Those who found themselves
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accused of malpractice are promising more drama and political
discussion. It seems to be one of the few issues in which there
appears to be almost multi-party unanimous support. We have to
know more about who get their releases of pork. Actually, almost all
legislators are getting their allocations released to them. The
exceptions are those who are under a cloud – either they are out of
political favor or under some problems. In short, it may be that the
system is “working” for them. The pork is apparently as popular to
the party list congressmen as it is to the traditional legislator.
The senators involved in this scam are Bong Revilla (who
transfers P 1.015 Billion to NGO’s), Juan Ponce Enrile, (P 641.65
million), Jinggoy Estrada (P 585 million), Bongbong Marcos (P 100
million) at Gringo Honasan (P 15 million). They said, had allegedly
coursed their priority development assistance fund (PDAF) to Social
Development Program for Farmers Foundations Inc. (SDPFFI),
Magsasakang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI), and
People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation
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Incorporated through Nabcor. The NGO’s were all linked to Napoles.
Revilla and Honasan as among the five senators who allegedly
allocated portions of their pork barrel funds to ghost projects worth
P10 billion. Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.and
Jinggoy Estrada were also linked by the report to the alleged
anomaly. Revilla, Enrile and Estrada were also identified in a recent
Commission on Audit (COA) report as among the lawmakers who
supposedly received excess pork barrel funds from 2007 to 2009.
Enrile said he is "ready to be investigated and prosecuted" in
connection to alleged irregularities in the use of his pork barrel
funds.
The PDAF is money allocated for lawmakers to be used in their
pet development projects. Critics charge that they fund “pork
barrel” projects which have traditionally been a source of
corruption.
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At the center of the controversy is businesswoman Janet Lim-
Napoles, who allegedly connived with legislators to syphon off some
P10 billion from the fund.
She has since gone into hiding after being charged with the
illegal detention of a whistleblower.
The evolution of LGU’s, although a significant milestone in the
history of our governance, initially brought about so much unfunded
national mandates. And so, the national agencies continued to
package, finance and even implement devolved programs and
projects. Not to be outdone, Congress has come into play with its
own brand of assistance. True, the congressional funds or pork
barrel can well serve a relevant purpose in funding the LGU’s
mandates. But more often than not, it has dishonored the integrity
of the overall government structure. Many congressional initiatives
are inconsistent with local development plans and are not a product
of prior consultation with LGU’s and communities.
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PDAF, have effectively increased the role of Congress in devolved
activities, which clearly contradicts the intention of the law, the
Local Government Code. That is shifting the role of central agencies
to policy-making, research and monitoring and technical assistance
for LGU’s. With the growing number of congressional programs and
projects, the transition of LGU’s and national agencies to their new
roles have taken an unfortunate extended period of time, which is
the serious consequence of pork barrel – undermine the capacity of
the LGU’s; disturbed the local leadership; and, to emphasize stall
the process of local development. The fiscal effects of such policy
have also been exerting pressure on the national budget like a
double-edged sword as budgetary requirements have been growing
for both national line agencies and LGUs for the same set of
functions and sectoral objectives and worsen by the rapidly
increasing congressional funds. Furthermore, as the pork barrel
mostly has local applications, it is in many ways; except that it is
nationally funded, which have different policies and rules in play vis-
à-vis the locally funded projects. The national policies and rules are
inherently ineffective in local procurement and/or implementation –
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and this makes the congressional funds most vulnerable to graft
and corruption.
That’s why public anger over the alleged misuse of pork barrel
funds has led to the largest protest under the Aquino
administration, and has prompted President Benigno Aquino III to
move for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund
(PDAF), the formal name of pork barrel funds received by
lawmakers every year.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, in 2004,
already came up with very comprehensive analyses on pork,
entitled Pork is a Political, Not a Developmental, Tool and
Legislators Feed on Pork. Despite damning revelations, all of our
politicians, particularly those in Congress who directly benefit,
simply have to turn a blind eye.
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The result – the primary duty of Congress to draft and pass laws
for the common good is undermined. Instead, the interests of those
who are in power are preserved and protected.
A constitutional provision allows the executive to funnel the fund
where it is needed according to his discretion. It is also largely the
prerogative of the president to outlay his national agenda and
financial plans to the house pending its approval. Special Purpose
Funds is never mentioned in the constitution and both congress and
the executive know it. The Priority Assistance Development Fund is
highly controversial in nature and they both also know it. The
president can exercise “his veto power to cancel from the
appropriation bill a pet project of a Representative or Senator”.
Congress will have to wrestle with the president to get the PDAF.
Those who understand the very nature of “the power of the purse”
should understand that this is exactly where the conflict arises.
Let's be clear in saying that the role of lawmakers is what they said
they are. They make the laws that are what they do. They have no
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right touching all or any part of any fund in the government in the
first place. The loopholes are staggering as evidenced by its
practice. The Napoles scandal has reinforced the notion that the
longer a legislator stay in power, the cunning he gets in
malversation.
It is morally right that the PDAF and all of its forms must and
should be abolished and that government spending be put under
the eyes of public scrutiny.
Countrywide development is slow in progress and sometimes
terminated by bureaucracy. Although unarguably true is the
dominant assumption that members of the house are more likely of
the needs and wants of their own respective constituents, it is
however highly regarded as patronage politicking therefore
encourages abuse and dynasties. Some would say that to get rid of
this inherent problem in a democratic form of government.
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Identification and development projects start at the LGUs or, as
someone suggested, a People's Coalition at the local level. If the
locality does not have the capacity or cannot afford the funding of
larger projects, an extension of help comes down from the national
level through their respective representatives. Congress approves it
based on identified priorities and LGU’s receive funding from
implementing agencies. There is nowhere along this channel that
says a Priority Development Fund or a special purpose fund is
needed. Appropriated budget is already integrated in the various
government agencies that are already in place and are ready to be
used.
To understand how the money is being spent by the present
administration is to understand the national budget. For this year
alone, our national budget is a shattering 2 Trillion Pesos. DepEd
has the largest slice of the pie, almost 300 Billion, and yet when
school started in June there were widespread reports of classroom
overcrowding, lack of teachers, and severe deficiency in textbooks.
The Department of Agriculture has more than 70 Billion Pesos and
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yet farmers still rely on the PDAF for market roads and only a few
actually received funding from the government.
We have all sorts of funds. They are tedious and some of it is
never explained by the DBM. There are gross inconsistencies. There
are no reports on how exactly the special purpose funds are being
spent.
So I support the call to eradicate the pork barrel in Congress if
only to expose the political setup that is dependent on it. Pork
barrel not only makes corrupt lawmakers rich; it also sustains their
political lives. Many members of Congress don’t know how to make
laws but they win elections because they have pork to blind their
constituents with. Also, part of that pork is spent to purchase
corrupt voters. If we want to partly weaken the corrupt political
setup, then we should abolish the pork barrel.
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Why Not Abolish Pork Barrel?
On the other side of my mind Pork Barrel should not be
abolished, why? Some of these funds are used in their right designation
indeed prioritizing the needs of the people for common welfare. Not all
legislators are using their Priority Development Assistance Fund just for
private or personal usage, some of these PDAF goes to some agencies
which help and support unfortunate students to continue their studies
and reach their dreams. So if ever that Pork Barrel or Priority
Development Assistance Funds will be abolished, who will support the
students who depend on the assistant fund given to them to pay their
tuition fees and school fees?
PDAF funds can act as an equalizer for instances say, scholarships
lack funding. It is just unfortunate that it is abused sometimes. The
President’s argument regarding the utility of the PDAF for both basic
needs of people and development interventions actually made sense to
me. As I have cited some PDAF allocations, around P10 million from
Pork Barrel Funds most of which were used for scholarships.
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In my view, it is wrong and unfair to say that all PDAF has been
misused. This is especially true in the provinces where district
representatives are often the last resort of constituents for health or
other urgent needs. While recognizing however that the pork barrel
system can sometime be used for the good, the PDAF and its
predecessor mechanism the Countrywide Development Fund,
clearly provide many opportunities for irrational decision-making as well
as corruption. By its very nature, pork barrel mechanisms are
potentially anomalous because, when designed badly, they violate the
constitutional principle of separation of powers. The CDF was according
to the Court, a way of equalizing the unequal. But as one scholar has
pointed out, the conclusion that legislators only make
recommendations was in fact not entirely accurate. We know now that
legislators actually tampered with implementation, among others, by
endorsing favored contractors and/or NGOs. It would be interesting to
know if the Supreme Court today would decide the same way given
what we know about how the pork barrel system has been manipulated
for personal gain.
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Legislators should not stick only to passing laws. They do have
other functions as representatives of the people. This includes a role in
identifying projects in their localities and in enacting the national
budget that funds these projects. Some legislators and representatives
play and accomplished their jobs as voice of the masses, but only few
of them.
I have watched the news last September 11, 2013, the interview to
the former mayor of Manila Lito Atienza, Pork Barrel is necessary but
wasting and spending it too much to unnecessary things is commonly
not good. Filipino’s are planning again for another rally to insist the
abolition of the Pork Barrel. But as I have said this actually cannot be
done totally by abolishing it. Pork Barrel is part of our governmental
system. These funds are just circling around our society if used in their
proper usage. But if we abolish Pork Barrel just for an example pork
barrel was abolish we can now sort the true public officials who are
willing to help the public without visualizing the Pork Barrel which are
given to them annually.
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How About Reforming the Pork Barrel System?
Aquino, who has made fighting against corruption a centerpiece of
his administration, said there was nothing “intrinsically wrong” with the
system but it has been abused by “a few greedy individuals.”
He promised to reform the corruption-plagued pork barrel fund.
Aquino said state funds can no longer be disbursed to NGOs and
government corporations linked in the alleged PDAF scam. State firms
such as the ZNAC Rubber Estate Corporation and the National
Agribusiness Corporation will be abolished, he added.
He said under the new system, legislators could still identify
projects but they would need approval and would be closely scrutinized.
The new project menu will prohibit consumable soft programs such
as fertilizers and medicine and temporary infrastructure projects in the
form of dredging, desalting, gravelling or asphalt overlay.
Aquino also issued guidelines to safeguard public funds, including
the publication of bids and awarding of projects.
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President Aquino admitted there is a need to improve the way
funds are disbursed, saying there should be more restriction, wide
safeguards and better monitoring of the implementation of projects.
"There were already huge improvements in safeguards which have
lessened the chances pork barrel can be misused, but I think there are
more ways we can improve the process so there would be no
opportunities to take advantage of them," he said.
Aquino maintained it should really be the government
departments implementing projects rather than the NGO’s, and lauded
the decrease of listed NGOs under his administration. But he also said it
is hard to make any sweeping judgments since some NGOs are honest
as well.
"I think it's difficult to generalize and say the whole system is
wrong. What's just is to scrutinize how it was used. If it's right, we
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support it, if it's wrong then we stop and ensure it won't happen again."
he said.
He also defended keeping the PDAF, which he said is largely useful
in determining the needs of many communities especially outside Metro
Manila that the national government does not necessarily notice, and to
address problems in districts known only to their respective lawmakers.
President Aquino cited having been able to use his pork barrel
when he was a congressman to fix the MacArthur Highway which
helped those passing through Tarlac.
"If we take it out, that means we rely on the national government
to know the needs of every district and to solve these all the time.
That's hard to do," he said.
What made the Old System of Pork Barrel prone to Abused?
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For me, the lack of transparency in the system which leads to
passive disengaged to Filipino citizens to it.
If ever that the Old System will be abolish I have read some article
which suggest what will be the New System in holding Pork Barrel
Funds.
After abolition there will be a new process to make sure each
district and sector gets a fair and equal share of the budget for the new
proposed system, as the National Budget is being prepared and
legislated legislators must have already proposed specific projects to be
implemented only for their specific districts or sectors. And the
proposed project must follow the menu of the New System of the Pork
Barrel, the proposed budget for specific projects will be received and
deliberated upon, and it must be approved by the House of
Representatives and the Senate. The approved projects will be included
under the budgets of the implementing agencies. E.g. read and bridge
projects which are under DPWH. The implementation of the project and
releasing of the funds can be monitored through the website of the
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DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and the upcoming
national data portals.
This new process contains additional restrictions to safeguard
against corruption. It continues the practice of requiring that projects to
be funded come from a specific menu of qualified projects and
legislators cannot include consumable soft projects such as fertilizers,
seeds, medicine, medical kits, dentures funding sports etc. these
projects of which the result and output that we cannot exclusively
identify, may possible be ghost projects and can turn into source of
income of the corrupt, and the funds must be only limited to the district
or sector of the legislator who sponsored it. Then all items will be
subject to open and competitive bidding and it will be post on the
Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System or PhilGEPS
website. By then the public may monitor the implementation
themselves. Of course for this system to work our cooperation is
needed and required. The information must be there for us to monitor,
we must do our part and also for the public official to their job and part
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to make it functional. We must work together to heighten transparency,
to strengthen public accountability and to ensure that public funds are
utilized justly in a manner it truly benefits the people.
Whether Pork Barrel will be abolish or not reform or not public
officials must not destroy the trust of the people, they must serve us
with whole honesty, with clean conscience and service with dignity. All
these Pork Barrel anomalies must be truly investigated and punished all
government officials who were involved in the scam; they pocket our
money and used them for their own personal pleasure or whatsoever.
Another we must strengthen and be strict and be fair if you commit
mistake just like betraying public trust, face it. Face it without any
“Special Treatment” for in the end just like the people who were inside
the jail bars are just like these alligators of the government they are
also these so “CRIMINALS”.
We have good government system; it’s just that the people who
try to implement laws, rules are the ones who actually and literally
break the laws. Curse them!
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Sources:
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/08/31/abolishing-the-pork-
barrel/
http://philippine-democracy.blogspot.com/2011/07/pork-barrel-
and-philippine-politics-and.html
http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/09/04/1168741/pork-barrel-
and-who-got-their-releases-2012
http://opinion.inquirer.net/56945/pork-barrel-costs-and-benefit
http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2013/09/04/1170321/better-use-
pork-barrel
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/08/31/abolishing-the-pork-
barrel/
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Pork Barrel In the Philippines
Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local Government
Code of 1991. R.A &160, Philippine Copyright 2007, By
Arellano v. Busto p. 262-276
33