Manila, Philippines --- President Benigno S. Aquino III’s own pork barrel is intact and is apparently here to stay, notwithstanding the people’s growing outrage against this type of discretionary fund.
In a media briefing yesterday, Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Abigail Valte rejected anew calls to scrap the President’s Special Purpose Funds (SPF) as well as the President’s Social Fund (PSF), insisting these allocations are needed for contingency response, among others.
She added that the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDF) of lawmakers is presumed dead by 2014 but President Aquino’s own “pork” barrel that includes the P5.2-billion PSF is still intact and apparently growing.
Nonetheless, these funds, which are lump sum items in the national budget, are open to public scrutiny since regular audit reports are posted online by the Commission on Audit, Valte said.
“On the Special Purpose Fund, the name is self-explanatory. It includes the contingency fund, calamity fund,” Valte said in a Palace press briefing.
“By the very nature of some of these funds, it is obviously something to draw out of in times of need,” she added.
P5-B CHED ‘Pork’?
While the people’s outrage against pork barrel continues to grow, lawmakers smelled “pork” in the lump sum discretionary funds allotted to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) under the Executive’s proposed P2.268-trillion national budget for 2014 despite the impending budget cuts being faced by state universities and colleges (SUCs)
During yesterday’s budget hearing, Deputy Speaker and Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon questioned the commission’s lump sum appropriations, which they branded as CHED’s pork barrel funds.
“You have been saying that there is no pork in the CHED budget. But I would like to apologize, I smelled pork in your budget,” Padilla told the hearing, referring to the inclusion of P5-billion fund in the proposed budget for 2014, which CHED Chairman Patricia Licuanan said would be distributed to the SUCs depending on their performance.
P499-B President’s
‘Pork’ In 2014
For 2014, around P310.1 billion has been reportedly proposed as SPFs along with P139.9 billion as un-programmed funds, for a total of P499 billion. The items include Pension and Gratuity Fund, Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund, Budgetary Support to Government Corporations, and Allocation to Local Government Units.
The infamous PDAF of lawmakers, which is included in the SPF, on the other hand, has been ordered abolished by the President due to its misuse. It will be replaced by a line-item budgeting mechanism in the proposed 2014 national budget.
Valte explained that if the special purpose funds are itemized, the government cannot tap such appropriated funds in case of emergency “because we can actually be liable for malversation that way.”
She also took exception to allegations that SPF is completely the President’s discretionary funds. “You know to call it completely discretionary is a little bit too general because the use of the Special Purpose Funds is clearly stated,” she said.
Social Fund Clarified
On another controversial form of presidential pork, Valte explained that the President’s social fund is a “trust fund” sourced from the income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
“The amount varies because unlike other programs in the Executive’s budget, it is not funded by the GAA or that’s not funded by Internal Revenue Collections or nor Customs Treaties. It’s essentially a trust fund,” Valte said.
“We don’t propose an amount for the Presidential Social Fund every year. That fund is supported and replenished by a percentage of the profits from Pagcor and if I’m not mistaken a small portion from the PCSO,” she added.
No Pork, Just SUC Fund
Meanwhile, Licuanan clarified that there is “no pork barrel” in their proposed P3.93-billion budget for 2014.
“The CHED has no pork barrel. The P5-billion is not in the CHED, but in the SUCs,” she told lawmakers after Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon raised concern that CHED has allocation of P6.047 billion in “pork” funds under the Executive’s proposed 2014 budget.
Ridon said the P5-billion, which is part of the P34.6 billion allocation for the country’s 110 SUCs in 2014, is a separate lump-sum item labeled as “allocation for capital outlays and scholarship programs of SUCs.”
“This lump-sum allocation is a recent innovation. In the past, the budget for capital outlay of SUCs is indicated as line items in their respective budget. The implication of having such P5-billion lump-sum fund is that CHED – and ultimately – the Office of the President, will have more power and discretion in the allocation of the said funds,” he said.
He disclosed that of the P6.047 billion, P1.047 billion will be given to CHED under the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF).
As provided for under Section 10 of Republic Act 7722, CHED will get a portion of the combined travel tax collections of Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), sales from the lotto operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and collections of the Professional Regulation Commission to augment its operating expenses.
