Farmers' group questions P4-billion 'pork' sought by Akbayan

MANILA, Philippines - A militant farmers’ group has questioned the P4.05-billion pork barrel fund sought by Akbayan party-list to provide infrastructure and agricultural support and credit to agrarian reform communities (ARCs). Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said only landlords and foreign agribusiness groups engaged in production of export crops would benefit from the fund. 

KMP said owners of agrarian reform communities still dictate what kind of crops are to be cultivated in the lands.        

“The ARCs operate under the control of feudal lords and big agro-corporations, so it is a pork barrel set aside for these greedy entities,” KMP said.

The P4-billion fund is supposedly an incentive for Akbayan’s support for the candidacy of President Aquino in the May elections.                                                                                                   

“The P4-billion Akbayan pork barrel is another form of government procurement of P4-billion worth of political loyalty and patronage,” KMP deputy secretary-general Willy Marbella said.                                                                            

The funds will be sourced from the P110.6 billion allotted to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).   

House Committee on Appropriations chair Cavite Rep. Jose Emilio Abaya said Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-Ao lobbied for the P4-billion pork barrel agrarian fund for new beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms.                                                                             

The KMP also alleged that the P4-billion pork barrel fund for Akbayan was granted in exchange for the support of the group to the proposed P21-billion budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for its conditional cash transfer program.