‘PDAF-like funds may be used for 2016 polls’

MANILA, Philippines - Former national treasurer Leonor Briones has warned the nation that pork barrel-like funds embedded in the 2015 national budget may be used for purposes of the 2016 elections.

She told a Quezon City news forum recently that the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget for next year could actually be called an election budget, since it would be used in the run-up to the combined presidential-congressional-local polls in May 2016.

She said there are funds in the budget that incumbent elective officials seeking reelection could use to promote their candidacy.

She said these include appropriations for projects proposed by senators, members of the House of Representatives, governors, mayors and other local officials which were included in the budget proposal.

She said among such appropriations are those that fall under the so-called Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Program (GPBP).

Briones pointed out that though the Supreme Court has struck down the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as unconstitutional, lawmakers could still propose projects while Congress is considering the budget.

Funding for such projects is in the nature of a pork barrel, she added.

She called on the people and budget and election watchdogs to be vigilant against the possible use of PDAF-like funds for election purposes.

Briones was national treasurer during the Estrada administration.

The PDAF was the official name of the congressional pork barrel. It allocated P200 million for each senator and P70 million for each House member.

Three senators are facing plunder and graft charges before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly misusing more than P1.5 billion in combined PDAF allocations from 2007 to 2009.

Charged with them is alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, and the senators’ senior aides and officers of state agencies and corporations that served as PDAF conduits and who allegedly made money from the use of such funds.

Shortly after the Supreme Court declared the PDAF as unconstitutional in November last year, Congress scrapped its annual P25-billion pork barrel as a lump-sum appropriation in the national budget but realigned P21 billion of it to six agencies.

According to the DBM website, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) received the biggest realignment of P7.26 billion. The funds are intended for “local infrastructure,” meaning projects identified by senators and congressmen.

Senators Lito Lapid and Ramon Revilla Jr. realigned a large part of their P200-million PDAF to infrastructure, while Sen. Jinggoy Estrada gave his P200 million to Manila, Caloocan City and Lal-lo town in Cagayan as financial assistance.

Sen. Nancy Binay realigned P300 million to the National Housing Authority, one of several agencies under the supervision of her father, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

On the other hand, Senate President Franklin Drilon and 14 other senators gave up their combined P3 million in PDAF as augmentation to the calamity fund.

The second biggest realignment of P4.12 billion went to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The money is for “scholarship assistance to students.”

The Department of Social Welfare and Development received P4.1 billion for “burial, transportation, medical and food assistance,” while the Department of Health (DOH) is allotted P3.25 billion for “hospitalization and medical assistance.”

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is allocated P1.03 billion for “training for employment,” while the Department of Labor and Employment received P1.02 billion for “special program for the training of students.”

The SC decision on the PDAF does not prohibit lawmakers from realigning their pork barrel funds and from proposing project funding while Congress is considering the budget.

What it prohibits is post budget-enactment intervention.