Filtered By: Topstories
News

P1 pork barrel for each lawmaker proposed


To ensure that government funds would not be used for partisan political interests in next year’s elections, a militant lawmaker on Monday proposed a solution: P1 pork barrel for each congressman. "Perhaps it's time congressmen get a taste of their own medicine," said Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño, noting that a P1 budget has always been used by Congress to threaten government agencies to get what it wants. "Let's allocate one peso for the pork barrel and let the various nominated projects of congressmen undergo line item budgeting and the public scrutiny it deserves," Casiño added. Casiño made the proposal days after an administration stalwart, Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis, proposed that the yearly pork barrel, or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), of each congressmen be raised from P70 million to P100 million to meet the high cost of commodities, particularly construction materials. Casiño said the money originally allocated for the PDAF in the proposed 2010 budget should be re-channeled to meet the shortages in teacher positions, classroom, textbooks, chairs, and laboratories in public schools. "If we divert the pork barrel to meet the shortages in our basic and secondary public schools, all it needs is three years to wipe out the chronic shortages," he said. In a statement Friday, the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee pegged the proposed budget for next year at P1.541 trillion, eight percent higher than the P1.426-trillion 2009 budget, to enable the government to further improve social services and complete the flagship projects of the Arroyo administration. - GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT