Lawmakers to get P100 million under proposed 2020 budget

MANILA, Philippines — Each member of the House of Representatives will receive P100 million under the proposed budget for next year, but such allocation cannot be considered “pork barrel,” a leader of the chamber said yesterday.

House ways and means committee chairman Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said 70 percent of the allocations would go to infrastructure while the rest would bankroll soft projects like medical assistance for needy constituents.

“What I know is, to ensure that everybody has some minimum, P100 (million),” Salceda told reporters at Malacañang when asked about the congressional allocations.

“That’s basically P70 million for infrastructure and they were itemized in the NEP (National Expenditure Program). Well, there is no such thing as non-itemized expenditure,” he added.

Salceda was quick to clarify that the allocations are not the same as “pork barrel” that was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC).

“As defined by the Supreme Court, there’s none,” the lawmaker said.

In 2013, the SC declared as illegal the allocation of pork barrel, then officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF.

In its ruling, the SC said the allocation of pork barrel violated the separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to wield non-oversight, post-enactment authority in vital areas of budget execution.

Last month, The STAR reported that more than P35 billion in congressional allocations would be included in the 2020 budget. Each House member would be given P100 million while each senator would receive P200 million, according to a lawmaker who requested anonymity.

A total of P30.5 billion will be allotted to 305 House members while the 24 senators will be given P4.8 billion.

Unlike the post-enactment authority struck down by the high court, Salceda said lawmakers would have to request project funds from agencies before the executive branch prepares the budget.

He claimed that the 2020 budget would have no insertions, the issue that stalled the passage of this year’s spending bill. 

“If a congressman needs a health center... How do you think it will be funded? So do you consider that pork?” he said. “It is pork-free based on Supreme Court standards. And the mere fact na there were no new insertions.”

House leaders have vowed to pass next year’s budget this week.