Fund realignment to cover Binay’s pork barrel

MANILA, Philippines - The decision of the House of Representatives to realign the P25.2-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) covers the P200-million “pork” of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“The Vice President’s PDAF is covered. We will realign that too to the agencies where the congressional PDAF will go,” Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, House appropriations committee chairman, told reporters yesterday.

He said Binay’s P200-million local projects fund would follow the apportionment formula the House used in distributing the congressional PDAF.

“The Vice President’s fund originated from the PDAF. It was the unused PDAF of President Aquino when he was a senator. Though it was integrated in the annual regular budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the fund is clearly in the nature of a PDAF allocation,” he said.

Ungab cited the 2013 General Appropriations Act, which provides that of the P416-million OVP budget, P200 million would be used for the “priority programs and projects of the Vice President.”

He said the law further provides that P100 million of the fund would be used for what members of Congress refer to as “soft” projects like educational and medical assistance, while the remaining P100 million would be allocated for “hard” or infrastructure projects.

This is also how a senator’s PDAF allocation is divided, he said.

He added that the law also provides that Binay’s P200-million fund “would be subject to the same conditions, limitations and requirements as the congressional PDAF.”

Informed that Binay’s office has asked the Senate finance committee to cut the P200-million fund from the proposed P417-million 2014 budget, Ungab said they would still give it to the agencies that would get the PDAF.

In a statement read by his chief of staff Benjamin Martinez Jr., Binay said he was giving up his fund in response to the President’s call for the abolition of the PDAF.

Binay would be left with P217 million for next year if Congress cuts or realigns his P200-million pork.

His remaining funding would still include P85 million for “donations and subsidies,” which he could use to help those seeking educational and medical assistance.

Martinez has reported to the House appropriations committee that Binay has 1,700 scholars and helps sick people with small amounts drawn from his funds in certain government hospitals.

Some committee members said giving assistance to needy people is not part of the Vice President’s job.

That duty belongs to the social welfare agencies, they said.