Newest lawmaker gets P20 million in 'pork'

MANILA, Philippines - The newest lawmaker, Jun Omar Ebdane, has received P20 million in pork barrel funds in less than three months as representative of Zambales’ second congressional district.

Ebdane, son of Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., was elected in a special election last Feb. 4. He replaced the late Antonio Diaz.

The elder Ebdane served as chief of the Philippine National Police and secretary of public works and highways during the time of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The congressional pork barrel is officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). It holds P25 billion a year for senators and members of the House of Representatives. Each senator receives P200 million, while each House member is allocated P70 million.

According to a Department of Budget and Management report, while Rep. Ebdane has received P20 million as of last April 15, his Zambales colleague, Mitos Magsaysay of the first district, has yet to get even a centavo of her P70-million 2011 allocation.

Like Gov. Ebdane, Magsaysay is an Arroyo ally. She is one of four Arroyo loyalists whose PDAF allocations had been withheld by Malacañang.

The three other “pork-less” House members are Arroyo’s two sons – Juan Miguel of the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy and Diosdado of Camarines Sur – and Augusto Syjuco Jr. of Iloilo.

Syjuco was Ebdane’s colleague in the Arroyo Cabinet. He was director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority with Cabinet rank.

Malacañang officials have said the PDAF allocations of Magsaysay, Syjuco and the two Arroyos have been released to city and town officials in their districts.

In the case of Mrs. Arroyo, Malacañang has released P30.8 million of her 2011 PDAF allocation.

Of her P30.8 million, the former President allocated only P20 million to her district and shared the P10.8 million with son Diosdado, Magsaysay and five other allies.

The five are Danilo Suarez of Quezon, who heads the minority bloc to which Mrs. Arroyo belongs, Martin Romualdez of Leyte, Marc Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur, Amelita Villarosa of Mindoro Occidental, and Arthur Yap of Bohol.

Magsaysay, Diosdado Arroyo and their five other colleagues each received between P1.3 million and P1.7 million from Mrs. Arroyo.

However, unlike the four “pork-less” minority members, Suarez, Cagas, Romualdez, Villarosa, and Yap have received their full P70-million allocation, plus the augmentation from the former President.

Like Syjuco and Gov. Ebdane, Yap served in the Arroyo Cabinet as agriculture secretary.

Magsaysay, a senatorial wannabe, has told reporters: “Life goes on without pork.”

In Syjuco’s case, he has addressed an impassioned appeal for the release of his funds to President Aquino.

Syjuco told Aquino that in the interest of fairness, he should release the pork barrel funds of the four remaining “pork-less” House members since he has released the PDAF allocations of Vice President Jejomar Binay and all other members of Congress.

“I can well understand the ‘human aspect’ of wanting to deprive those who are not supportive of you, but as I have said time and again, I am supportive of Your Excellency,” Syjuco has said in an open letter to Aquino.

Syjuco said he does not believe that Aquino would want to decimate the political opposition and have all national and local officials as allies since that would not be good for democracy.

“Your Excellency and I have had no past relationship whatsoever, neither good nor bad. However, a few local politicians in Iloilo with self-serving local political strife who want me replaced, misrepresented me to be Your Excellency’s vile enemy,” Syjuco said.

“Time and again, I have said to everyone, even in my numerous letters to Your Excellency, that I would not stand in the way of your programs, and that it would be a great disservice to our country and our 90 million Filipinos to stand in your way to build the upgraded society that you envision for us,” he said.