Arroyo wants P8-billion ‘pork’ restored by bicam

President Arroyo wants P8 billion in pork barrel funds restored by the Senate-House bicameral conference committee to her proposed P1.053-trillion national budget for this year.

House sources told The STAR yesterday that the President had phoned Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, appropriations committee chairman, to bat for the restoration of the P5-billion Kilos Asenso Support Fund and the P3-billion Kalayaan Barangay Program Fund.

One committee member said Salceda had promised to work to retain the funds in the budget outlay.

The P8 billion is part of the P64-billion cut that the Senate made before approving its version of the 2006 budget last week. Senators claimed the Kilos and Kalayaan funds were part of Mrs. Arroyo’s pork barrel and suggested she might use the money to promote Charter change or Cha-cha.

In her budget proposal, the President lumped the P8 billion in with P181 billion set aside as "allocations to local government units." These included P166.5 billion in "internal revenue allotments," which are shares given to local government units from national taxes; P1 billion in subsidies to the Metro Manila Development Authority; and P2.9 billion for a "premium subsidy for indigents under the national health insurance program."

The premium subsidy would go to the Philippine Health Corp.

Besides funds for Kilos and Kalayaan, the Senate-sponsored P64-billion budget cut includes about P37.1 billion taken from the P57.1-billion "unprogrammed fund," leaving a balance of P20 billion for this appropriation.

The appropriation is labeled "unprogrammed" because it is not supported by projected revenue collections. The President can release money for this item only if there are excess funds from revenue collections or from borrowings. Revenue agencies are not known for exceeding their targets.

A portion of the huge Senate-proposed cut consists of funds that the chamber denied to several controversial agencies allegedly involved in human rights violations, immoral deals with the Marcos family and use of taxpayers’ money for Cha-cha.

These agencies include the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), National Security Council (NSC), Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and National Printing Office (NPO).

According to Salceda, the bicameral conference on the budget is effectively deadlocked due to the divergent positions of the Senate and the House.

"But it is not a Gordian knot, it is a deadlock with an opening," he said.

He said senators are insisting on their P64-billion cut to keep the budget deficit down.

The reduction would reduce this year’s projected budget deficit of P125 billion by half. The failure of Congress to enact this year’s budget would slash the deficit by P100 billion since the reenacted 2005 outlay is about P100 billion lower than the proposed P1.053-trillion 2006 spending level.

The Salceda panel and its Senate counterpart led by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., finance committee chairman, were scheduled to meet again last night to try to iron out their differences.

In April, the House passed the proposed 2006 budget after almost nine months of deliberation with just one alteration: it increased its pork barrel by P4.72 billion, or by half, from P9.44 billion to P14.16 billion.

The increase meant an additional P20 million for every congressman and congresswoman and brought their total pork barrel allocations for this year to P60 million each.

The Senate approved its version last week after three weeks of committee and plenary debates.