Speaker backs probe on P16.5-B 2010 midnight ‘pork’

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. supported yesterday the inquiry started by the House committee on good government into the P16.5-billion “midnight” pork barrel fund releases made shortly before the 2010 presidential elections.         

“I think the committee should pursue the investigation so the people will know where the money went,” Belmonte told reporters.         

He said he learned about the released funds only from newspaper accounts of the committee’s hearing on Tuesday.         

“There were releases to particular places or to congressmen. There was a list of funds given to various cities, local government units (LGUs), and one of them was Quezon City. I was city mayor at the time and I can say I never saw or received or even heard of even one centavo being unloaded on Quezon City,” he said.         

Belmonte is now representative of Quezon City’s fourth congressional district.         

“It’s very difficult to have ghost projects around here, so the projects might have continued but they never bothered to tell the city we have this money,” he said.         

He added that he could not speculate on what happened to the funds downloaded to congressional districts in the provinces.         

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo released the funds mostly in February and March, less than three months before the May 2010 presidential elections, which then Sen. Benigno Aquino III won.         

It is believed that the fund releases were intended for election purposes.         

Of the P16.5 billion, P10.6 billion was made available to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for lawmakers’ projects, nearly P4 billion to various LGUs as subsidies and more than P2 billion to other agencies, including the Department of Agriculture.         

The P16.5 billion was part of the P68 billion in pork barrel funds senators and congressmen inserted in the 2010 national budget.

President Aquino withheld the release of more than P50 billion when he took over from Arroyo on June 30, 2010.         

According to documents Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson gave to the good government panel chaired by Pampanga Rep. Oscar Rodriguez, Quezon City received a total of P75.5 million for projects undertaken by its first and second engineering districts.         

Apparently, the funds were for the city’s first and second legislative districts.         

The biggest projects were rehabilitation of Congressional Avenue Extension, for which P15 million was released; rehabilitation of Regalado Avenue in Fairview, P10 million; rehabilitation of drainage system along North Avenue, P5 million; improvement of Kamias Road, P10 million; and rehabilitation of East Lawin in Philam Homes, Virginia street in Barangay Toro, Jordan street in Barangay Baesa, and Sampaguita street in Barangay Pasong Putik at P5 million each.         

The other recipients in Metro Manila were Caloocan City, P20 million; Mandaluyong City, P120 million; Manila, P54 million; Marikina, P32.9 million; Navotas, P4 million; Parañaque, P20 million; Pasay City, P13.7 million; Pasig, P45.8 million; San Juan, P4 million; Taguig, P4.2 million, and Valenzuela, P35 million.          

Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said the funds his city received were spent for a 20-room building at Isaac Lopez Integrated School and a teacher education and law center at Rizal Technological University.         

Singson said the biggest recipient of pork barrel and other funds before the 2010 elections was the small province of Biliran, which received P1.8 billion.         

The other big recipients were Leyte’s first district, P735 million; Albay’s second district, P633 million; Antique, P636 million; Pampanga’s third district, P502 million; Quezon’s second district, P560 million, and Batangas’ fourth district, P412 million.         

Albay received a total of P1.121 billion, with P322.7 million going to its first district and P165 million to its third district.

A total of P905 million was made available to the province of Quezon.