Author Topic: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace  (Read 779 times)

hubag bohol

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Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« on: August 26, 2013, 09:56:14 PM »
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/
Published on Monday, 26 August 2013 21:01   
Written by Butch Fernandez


PALACE officials on Monday deflected calls to scrap what critics call “presidential pork barrel,” saying these are  calamity funds that the President must have the flexibility to use, as needed, while assuring the people that the “new” system that would replace the congressional pork barrel would be effective and less prone to abuse.

Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said calls for scrapping “all of the President’s pork barrel” ignore the fact that the President’s Social Fund, for instance, has gone to quick-response and long-term rehabilitation of disaster-ravaged areas.

The lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which will be removed from the 2014 budget, comes as an arbitrary lump sum, with a cap of P200 million annually for each senator and P70 million for each congressman.

“It does not specify how the funds will be used by the lawmakers,” noted Lacierda.

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hubag bohol

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2013, 09:57:36 PM »
The clamor for the PDAF’s abolition peaked recently with Commission on Audit (COA) findings of misuse of some lawmakers’ allocations, in an alleged scam that diverted money to bogus non-governmental organizations.

According to Lacierda, in the reformed system, legislators will already be made to propose, during Congress deliberations on the budget bill, the specific projects to be implemented only for their respective districts and for their sectors. “These [congressional insertions] will be included in the proposed budget as specific line item budgets in place of the lump sum,” he said.

Details of the reformed pork-barrel system for lawmakers will be finalized in an upcoming meeting between Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and congressional leaders, Lacierda said.

He justified the new setup amid criticisms that lawmakers were elected to craft laws, not implement projects, which is the task of the Executive branch. “But they were elected as representatives of the people; we, in the national government attend to national concerns while those elected to represent their districts are the ones who are more acquainted with the needs and requirements of their constituents.”

Speaking at the National Heroes Day rites at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on Monday, President Aquino said that for the new pork-barrel system his government is putting in place of the PDAF to be truly effective, “we also need our people to keep vigilant watch of each project that will be funded.”

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hubag bohol

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2013, 09:58:35 PM »
Mr. Aquino said his decision, announced on Friday, abolishing the PDAF was “part of continuously finding and forming a mechanism that ensures that the people’s money can only be used for the people.”

Earlier, the BusinessMirror reported Palace Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte as saying there was “no need” to come up with another name for the pork-barrel system that would replace the PDAF that the President abolished last week.

“As Secretary Abad said, there is no need for a name as additional funding support identified by legislators [for projects in their bailiwicks] will be made part of the national government project,” Valte said.

She explained, for instance, that funding for scholarships would be placed under the existing scholarship programs of the Commission on Higher Education.

Valte also dismissed the clamor to scrap all pork barrels amid criticisms the Palace abolition of the congressional PDAF was “selective” and did not cover presidential pork-barrel allocations.

“There is no such thing as a presidential pork barrel, as some groups insist to distort the issue,” the Palace official said. “All Special Purpose Funds under the Executive, such as the Calamity Fund, Contingent Fund and others have very clear purposes.”

Moreover, she added that stricter measures have been put in place since the President assumed office in June 2010 “to make sure the aforementioned funds go to its intended purpose.”

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hubag bohol

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2013, 09:59:33 PM »
Valte, likewise, admitted it remained unclear to her “whether these groups or persons making these calls are aware that by calling for the abolition of Special Purpose Funds, they are also actively calling to scrap the Calamity Fund.”

Also on Monday, the President affirmed his marching orders to the Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC) to pursue charges leading to the conviction of erring administration and opposition lawmakers linked to reported misuse of billions of pesos of the PDAF.

“We will do everything in our power to find those who conspired to take advantage of the PDAF’s good intentions and to hold them accountable. We will not allow anyone to be used to propagate the corrupt practices of a few,” Mr. Aquino said in his National Heroes Day speech.

He assured the public his administration “will make certain that the mistakes of the past are not repeated so that we may further ascertain that the people’s money is spent properly.”

In a subsequent news briefing at the Palace, Lacierda confirmed Mr. Aquino’s directive to the Anti-Graft Council­—composed of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and COA Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan—to make sure all those found to have misused the PDAF are made accountable.

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hubag bohol

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2013, 10:00:15 PM »
Lacierda said President Aquino was keen on pushing “prosecution toward accountability.”

“We are after accountability. The President was very disgusted with the results of the COA special audit,” he said, adding this was why Mr. Aquino specifically tapped IAAGCC to pursue the matter. “They [Carpio-Morales, de Lima and Pulido-Tan] will investigate; they will prosecute; they will recover [misused pork funds].”

The Palace official added that the council is “now going to go after those found—those who were found to have misused the funds of government. As in Greek mythology, they will be the Three Furies who will go after those who have wronged the people, okay.”

At the same time, Lacierda admitted that the just-abolished PDAF pork-barrel system became prone to abuse because the previous Arroyo administration was “desperate to hold on to power.”

“You’ve got congressmen immersed in a culture of transactionalism; a bureaucracy co-opted and coerced; a lack of transparency in the system; a passive and disengaged citizenry,” Lacierda said, adding: “We are reforming that. We are changing that.”

He explained that the abuses in the PDAF existed “primarily because of the environment or the atmosphere of corruption that existed.”

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2013, 01:58:14 AM »
Passive and disengaged citizenry? Or a system - a good enough corrupt system that deceives and divides a politically aware citizenry? >:(

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2013, 08:05:26 AM »
Maghimo tag parehas FEMA for emergencies

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Re: Presidential ‘Pork’ barrel stays–palace
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2013, 09:19:19 AM »
what a doublespeak.  careful here, pnoy.  an aquino was swept into power.  there's no rule against driving another aquino out of power.

i admire you, though, for your obstinacy.  you are but your mother's son.  if it's of any assurance, at least you are the exact opposite of political opportunists like senators allan peter cayetano and chiz escudero, they who know how to divine (and manipulate?) with speed the people's sentiments, and to ride on these hastily, as in preempting you the president with their own proposals of scrapping the pork barrel all together, hoping perchance that their own shenanigans with their own pork barrels can be relegated to limbo, except that the coa report showed otherwise.  hohum.

>:( - angry and unconvinced.  SCRAP THE PORK AND SAVE THE PIG!

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