Use pork to guarantee adequate food for all Filipinos

There is a need for the Philippine government to consider seriously the abolition of the pork barrel system. The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is just the current form and name of the pork barrel. And it is only the PDAF that President Aquino said he has abolished.

What was objectionable about the PDAF was that it was a discretionary fund that members of the Philippine Congress dispensed with as if it were their own money. The fund has been abused, and public outrage has grown over reports of corruption arising from the misuse of the fund. Any new form or name of the pork barrel system that retains PDAF’s basic features of being discretionary and lacking transparency will just perpetuate government corruption which drains resources away from public services needed by the people.

The amounts from the PDAF that have found their way to the pockets of unscrupulous government officials and their cohorts are precious funds that could have been used to provide for the people’s basic needs, to promote their fundamental human rights, and to advance their human dignity.

Rather than continue the PDAF, government should consider more worthwhile measures like a comprehensive program to end hunger in the Philippines. Government should provide for the necessary financial and other support measures to ensure that the zero-hunger ideal becomes a reality in the Philippines without having to go through any pork barrel system.

In this regard, it is critical for government to consider the adoption of a framework law for the right to adequate food. There is an urgent need for government to ensure the right to adequate food, which is: the right of the people to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access—either directly or through purchases—to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food, which corresponds to their cultural traditions, and which ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life that is free of fear.

In the adoption of a framework law on the right to adequate food, government must adopt a human rights-based approach. It should ensure participation on the part of the people; accountability for those who violate the law; nondiscrimination on account of sex, age or any other basis; transparency or open access to information; respect for human dignity; empowerment of the people; and respect for the rule of law. It must develop indicators for determining levels of improvement in the enjoyment of the right to adequate food, and it should provide for effective remedies in cases of violations, including criminal, civil and administrative liabilities on the part of those behind the violations. To be true and meaningful, a framework law on the right to adequate food should not be any less.

—AUREA MICLAT-TEVES, convenor,

National Food Coalition,

BOMBI SUNGA, lawyer, FLAG