DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines - "The abolition (of the pork barrel) in the Senate is almost a sure thing already," said Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV here in this city last Friday.
Senator Aquino announced he was certain that the proposed abolition of the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or "pork barrel" for legislators will be supported by majority of the senators.
The senator arrived in this capital city of Negros Oriental for a host of activities and to thank the constituents for their votes that earned him the top spot in the province among elected senators in the May 13 polls.
At a press conference at a local hotel here, Aquino said at least 15 senators had shown support to the scrapping of the pork barrel.
He explained that the PDAF of senators will be returned to the National Treasury and these funds, intended for development projects, shall be coursed through the various government line agencies.
Aquino said he expected that charges will be filed against the lawmakers and even the whistle-blowers allegedly involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam before the end of the month.
Per the report of the Commission on Audit, some of the non-government organizations named recipients of lawmakers' pork barrel admitted that part of the funds allocated them went to ghost projects. "The problem is that there was no physical verification of whether the funding was truly implemented," he said, adding that "some agencies were just satisfied with paper documentation only."
Aquino said agencies were given 3 percent from the PDAF funds for the monitoring of NGO-recipients. "At the end of the day, these agencies also have a liability," he said.
The senator met with Governor Roel Degamo and attended other personal and professional activities lined up for him in Negros Oriental before he went to Siquijor province yesterday to attend the annual Siquijor Day celebration. (FREEMAN)