The plan of President Aquino to “overhaul” the Priority Development Assistance Fund will actually lead to an “expanded, unlimited, and invisible” Aquino pork barrel.
The Aquino pork plan is an evil, deceptive ploy riding on the public outrage over pork barrel and corruption in order to breed a more monstrous animal.
Mr. Aquino’s Aug. 25 declaration that he had “abolished” the pork was doublespeak. Under his new system, the senators and congressmen merely have to propose their projects to the executive and include them as line items in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) instead of allotting themselves lump sums, as in the past. This, for one, will mean the concentration of more pork funds in the hands and under the control of Mr. Aquino. It is no wonder that Budget Secretary Butch Abad was smiling when the President announced the move—after all, it is he and his Liberal Party friends who will have the power to screen and approve projects.
This also effectively will make pork unlimited for Palace allies. Note that Mr. Aquino said nothing about the amount of the planned congressional pork. The pork will be invisible as it will be hidden in the line item budget of the various agencies. And it will be expanded to include local government units, civil society groups and nongovernment organizations—take note of the P20-billion “Bottom-up Budget” in the 2014 GAA.
Meanwhile, Mr. Aquino’s own presidential pork, composed of lump-sum, discretionary, “unprogrammed” allocations will remain untouched and secure.
We must slay the animal that is the Aquino pork barrel.
—VENCER CRISOSTOMO
national chair, Anakbayan,
anakbayanphils@gmail.com