Senators left out in P16.5-billion GMA largesse in the 2010 budget

MANILA, Philippines - Senators appear to have been left out in the distribution of largesse by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before the combined presidential-congressional-local elections last May 10.

The Senate was supposed to have two-thirds or P43 billion of the P65 billion in debt payments programmed for this year and which senators and congressmen diverted to their pork barrel. The remaining P22 billion was to be allotted to members of the House of Representatives.

Mrs. Arroyo, now a congresswoman representing Pampanga’s second district, released P16.5 billion of the P65 billion in diverted debt payments before and after the May elections.

Of the P16.5 billion, P15.2 billion was released in February and March, while P1.3 billion was disbursed on May 21 and on June 25, five days before the former president turned over power to President Aquino.

Documents on the releases do not indicate any funds given to senators. The funds were made available to House allies of Mrs. Arroyo and to some members of the then opposition Liberal Party.

It was the Senate-House conference committee on the 2010 budget that diverted P65 billion in debt payments to the congressional pork barrel. Then Rep. Junie Cua of the lone district of Quirino, who was House appropriations committee chairman, and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Edgardo Angara, headed the conference panel.

The documents show that Cua’s district received more than P100 million out of the diverted funds before the elections, including P43.5 million in financial subsidy that Cua allocated to his province, whose governor then was his son Dakila and whom he was seeking to replace. The father is now the province’s governor. His son has taken his congressional seat.

As for Angara, the documents do not indicate that the P650 million in additional funds for the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority – his brainchild – had been released.

Mrs. Arroyo had proposed a P150-million budget for the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority. During the bicameral budget conference, Angara increased this to P800 million, using funds taken from debt payments.

Mrs. Arroyo, however, did release P15 million for three projects in Dipaculao, Aurora: P5 million for the re-gravelling of Ipil-Laboy Road, P5 million for the rehabilitation of a drainage canal along Doa Aurora St., and another P5 million for a multi-purpose building.

It is not clear whether the projects belong to Sen. Angara or his son Juan Edgardo, who represents the province in the House.

The records on the releases also do not indicate any additional funds given to the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Authority, which was a creation of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Mrs. Arroyo was not supposed to release any of the diverted debt funds. He said that in signing the 2010 budget, the former president imposed a condition on the release of the funds: that Congress should enact revenue measures to support the additional expenditures.

“As you know, Congress did not pass any revenue measure from the time the 2010 budget was approved,” he said in a letter to The STAR last week.

“The amount of P16.5 billion has thus become a burden on the fiscal picture for the latter half of this year,” he said. The P65 billion in debt money added to the pork barrel is on top of the regular P24-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund of senators and congressmen. Thus, for this year, lawmakers allocated for themselves a total of P89 billion in pork barrel funds.  

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said Mrs. Arroyo might still be wielding influence even in the current administration, considering that she is allegedly entitled to P2 billion pork allocations.

Cayetano said he was wondering why Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for Mrs. Arroyo’s projects got released easily.

“Why is she still getting preferential treatment, many SAROs were being held off by the administration. Who’s her contact in the new administration? Why is PGMA’s (allocation) not distributed properly around the country?” Cayetano asked. 

A SARO is a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) document showing that funds are available for specified projects. Agencies use the document to start the bidding process for projects. – With Christina Mendez