3 lawmakers got biggest ‘pork’
Credit to Author: GLEE JALEA| Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:41:26 +0000
FORMER House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, former majority leader Rodolfo Fariñas and former appropriations committee chairman Karlo Nograles got the biggest budget allocations for pet public works projects in their districts, House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said on Tuesday.
In a letter addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte, Andaya said the three former House leaders, also the chief executive’s top allies, got pork allocations of P5 billion, P3.5 billion and P4 billion, respectively.
Alvarez represents the first district of Davao del Norte, Fariñas represents the first district of Ilocos Norte, and Nograles represents the first district of Davao City.
“On top of the list with biggest Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects is the district of former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez with P5 billion, while the district of the former Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas was allocated P3.5 billion, and the district of former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations Karlo Nograles received P4 billion,” a portion of the letter read.
The letter dated December 11 came after Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo called on Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to explain allegations of last-minute insertions worth P2.4 billion in the second district of Pampanga, which the former president now represents.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson previously claimed that P1.9 billion was allocated to the first district of Camarines Sur represented by Andaya.
But Andaya said that in the 2019 General Appropriations Bill recently approved by the House of Representatives, Arroyo’s district only ranked 60th while he ranked 110th in terms of appropriations under the DPWH budget.
“Close scrutiny of the 2019 budget during House deliberation showed huge funding spikes in other favored districts, the provenance of which leadership of the DPWH has reportedly known nothing about,” Andaya said.
“What the present House leadership did was, in a manner compliant with all laws, to purge the budget of development favoritism and as much as possible apportion next year’s spending to all districts in a fair manner,” the majority leader added.
Lacson to Ombudsman: Probe pork mess
Lacson on Tuesday said it was time for Ombudsman Samuel Martires to step into the pork mess.
Lacson also thanked Andaya for revealing that a single contractor hogged no less than 30 flood control projects worth billions of pesos. He said both the House of Representatives and the Office of the Ombudsman could conduct their own probes into the revelations.
“Expose pa more! A single contractor bagging 30 flood control projects worth billions of pesos calls for a congressional inquiry/Ombudsman investigation. Thank God I found an unlikely ‘ally’ in Cong. Andaya,” Lacson said in a post on his Twitter account.
In a privilege speech on Monday, Andaya claimed that a single proprietorship based in Bulacan, CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, cornered flood control projects in provinces including Sorsogon and Catanduanes.
Andaya has sought the issuance of subpoena against the owner of CT Leoncio, regional directors and district engineers of the DPWH, and state auditors.
The lawmaker alleged that aside from DPWH projects, CT Leoncio “cornered various infrastructure contracts from” the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Transportation and Department of Labor and Employment and Makati City.
These projects, he said, were located in Iloilo City, Sarangani, Quezon province, Marinduque, Cebu, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Batangas, Subic, Bulacan, Davao City, Makati City and Ilocos Norte.
“In light of the House investigation on the issue, I am formally requesting the plenary to subpoena the owner of CT Leoncio as well as all regional directors and district engineers of the DPWH and the CoA (Commission on Audit) auditors assigned to these projects,” Andaya said in a statement.
“I am also requesting for the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum for all records covering the government transactions of CT Leoncio from the year 2017 to 2018. These records cover all government agencies that transacted with the contractor during the period,” he added.
“Apparently, what I divulged in my privilege speech yesterday was only the tip of the iceberg. We have received official records showing that billions of pesos in public funds were funneled from DBM (Department of Budget and Management) to CT Leoncio Construction and Trading in official transactions of unparalleled proportion,” he said in the same statement.
“I personally believe that President Duterte is not aware of these transactions. Nowhere in my privilege speech did I tag Malacañang as being involved in the grant of infrastructure contracts. The Office of the President cannot have a favored contractor because it is not a procuring entity,” he said.
Allegations unfair – Arroyo
Speaker Arroyo said she was unfairly criticized for the allocations in her district, and denied claims the lawmakers who got bigger budget appropriations were her allies.
“I cannot make allegations about somebody else’s motive just as it is not right to make allegations about me. Why should I deprive the people of my district? I’m only middle-class as far as the allocation is concerned,” she said.
“Second allegation, they were my allies? No. The previous leadership of the House have bigger, multiples of the budget of my district. But if I’m number 90 or number 60 and I’m the Speaker of the House, I have to explain that?” Arroyo said.
Sought for comment, Alvarez claimed he had not seen the National Expenditure Program nor attended a single budget hearing, after he was replaced by Arroyo as Speaker.
Fariñas, who is running for Ilocos Norte governor, told The Manila Times he would not be surprised with the allocation for his district due to geographic factors considered in the construction of concrete roads.
“[M]y district has one of the longest national highways in the country from Laoag to the boundary of Cagayan province. The bridge alone for the Laoag-Bacarra bypass road is about P1 billion [in multi-year allocations],” he said.
“I left the majority two days after the State of the Nation Address when I joined the minority, and there is no way I could have added anything to it. I did not attend any budget hearing since then as I was on medical leave starting September 15 when I suffered injuries from ‘Typhoon Ompong,’” Fariñas added.
Nograles has yet to respond to a request for comment.
Andaya previously said that it would be up to the bicameral conference committee to discuss amendments to the budget as regards insertions, which he said was distributed out of “misplaced generosity.”
The Senate is still deliberating on the proposed 2019 budget amounting to P3.757 trillion. The House passed the measure on November 20 after a series of delays in deliberations due to “pork” issues.
Andaya revelations ‘welcome’
Malacañang on Tuesday welcomed Andaya’s revelation that allies of President Duterte were on top of the list of districts with the largest public works projects.
However, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said that while the Executive branch respects the separation of powers among the branches of the government, it would not “countenance any violation of our laws governing the budget, especially with regard to matters concerning our people’s hard-earned money.”
He maintained that the Executive would not meddle with the budget because the Legislative branch of the government holds the power of the purse.
“We leave it to Congress to scrutinize, review and deliberate on the budget and make the necessary corrections, amendments or adjustments to ensure that all constituents, regardless of districts and political or party affiliations of lawmakers, are given equal opportunity for growth, progress and access to services, in line with [President Duterte’s] vow of bringing a comfortable life for all Filipinos,” Panelo said.
WITH JAVIER JOE ISMAEL, REINA C. TOLENTINO AND RALPH U. VILLANUEVA
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