4 senators ask for deletion of their 2014 'pork'

MANILA, Philippines - Four senators have formally asked the removal of their respective P200-million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations under the proposed 2014 national budget.

The senators include Franklin Drilon, Francis Escudero. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel and Grace Poe.

Poe submitted her request on Thursday to the Senate Committee on Finance, which is chaired by Escudero.

Escudero said there are already eight senators who have submitted their positions on their PDAF to the committee. The names of the four other senators were not yet made available at press time.

Escudero promised that a complete list will be provided to the media after the November 11 deadline.

Poe and Pimentel’s decision came after Drilon led the chamber in making good of his public statements that he will pursue the abolition of PDAF as far as the 2014 budget is concerned.

The move of the Senate leadership came after majority of the senators agreed to allow President Benigno Aquino III to tap the senators’ unused PDAF under the 2013 budget.

Through a resolution, the senators have authorized that the unused PDAF for 2013 be realigned for calamity funds despite a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court.

In a letter dated November 7, Poe asked for the “consequent deduction” of the P200-million in PDAF allocated for her office from the proposed 2014 national budget pending the “final approval by the Senate of the Philippines.”

Pimentel also said he is no longer availing any PDAF allocation for next year, and the P 190-million balance under his pork barrel funds for this year.

“For this reason, I respectfully request that the amount of P 200-milion allocated as my PDAF be removed and deducted from the budget,” Pimentel said in a letter dated November 5.

Escudero also announced that he has formally notified the Committee on Finance that he is also refusing his P200-million PDAF allocation.

“Abolition to me is totally removing or subtracting the allocation from the national budget. That is why I filed a resolution to get the Senate sense in scrapping the PDAF,” Escudero said in a statement.

During the last senators’ caucus, Escudero said he and his colleagues reached an agreement to leave the senators to their individual decisions regarding what to do with their PDAF.

Escudero said his colleagues will have to formally inform the finance committee on what they want to do with their allocation. He said the senators have until November 11 to notify the committee.

Amid the pork barrel fund scam issue, President Aquino delivered a speech suggesting the abolition of the PDAF system.

The President, however, has refused to let go of his office's discretionary fund which is also considered by several quarters as pork barrel.