Visayan lawmakers hopeful on release of remaining 2013 PDAF

MANILA, Philippines - Visayan members of the House of Representatives believe the Supreme Court (SC) will allow the release of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The lawmakers want to use the funds for the relief and rehabilitation of earthquake-hit areas in Bohol and Cebu.

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez issued the statement after the 32-member Visayan bloc held an urgent meeting on Wednesday to find ways to ensure the complete rehabilitation of these areas.

During the meeting called by Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Trenas, Visayan bloc president, members contributed P10,000 to P20,000 each of their personal money for the earthquake victims.

Cebu City Rep. Luigi Quisumbing agreed that the contributions be directed to Bohol, the  most devastated province.

Meanwhile, Samar Rep. Emil Ong said two pregnant women from Bohol delivered their babies at the Natalio Castillo Sr. Memorial Hospital in his province using solar-powered lights in the delivery room.

“We have asked our friends and supporters to send in more help to Bohol for the province and help bring it back to normalcy soonest,” he said.

At the Senate, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said in a statement that she disagrees with President Aquino that the PDAF must be retained to ensure the reelection of lawmakers.

“To help the best and brightest to get elected to public office, it is not necessary to convert the office of the congressman into a local DSWD with freebies for all constituents,” she said.

“That is a matter for campaign finance reform. Ideally, government should finance and strictly regulate campaign advertising.  In other words, government should subsidize campaigns, to make sure that candidates do not resort to vote-buying using pork barrel which are public funds.”

Santiago said the Constitution does not provide for lawmakers to distribute handouts to communities.

“Candidates should win on the basis of academic excellence and professional excellence. They should not win reelection by using pork barrel to bribe voters. That system is corrupt and breeds a culture of dependency on the person rather than on the institution of government,” she said.

Lawmakers must gradually abolish their PDAF until Aquino ends his term in 2016, Santiago said.

The Senate has failed to reach a consensus on the proposed deletion of the P4.8-billion in PDAF under the 2014 budget following a closed-door caucus Wednesday night.

Senate President Franklin Drilon  was unable to get approval of the majority before Congress went on a three-week break last Wednesday.

“There were numerous views expressed in the caucus and therefore, what we did, by Nov. 11, each senator will submit his final position and we will present the committee report reflecting the individual views,” he said.

“In general there were many senators in favor of abolishing. But there were a number of views, can we not do with 2013 and put it for calamity... then really it’s different from the House...

“From my personal assessment, there was no resistance to scrapping the PDAF. But we agreed to submit our individual amendments by Nov. 11. We will see what happens after all the written manifestations are submitted. In my sense, although there was no vote, my assessment is that a majority of the senators would just want it scrapped. Out of respect to the others who were not around, we just deferred the final decision.” – Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez