Palace: P2.2-B infra fund for Arroyo district ‘is not pork’

The P2.2-billion public works fund allotted for Pampanga's second district which former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo now represents in Congress is not pork barrel, Malacañang said Wednesday. In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said most of the funds are loans from the Japanese and Korean governments that were secured during the Arroyo administration. "It's not pork (barrel)," said Lacierda a day after Senator Alan Peter Cayetano hit the Aquino administration for supposedly treating Arroyo like a "sacred cow." Each member of the Lower House is entitled to only P70 million annually in pork barrel funds, officially known as Priority Development Assistance Fund. President Benigno Aquino III was one of Arroyo's allies when the former was still Tarlac congressman and the latter was president. But the two had a falling-out when the Liberal Party, of which Aquino was a member, and ex-president Corazon Aquino herself, joined calls for Arroyo's resignation in 2005 over the Hello Garci scandal. Aquino ramped up his anti-Arroyo criticisms during his presidential campaign, and one of his first executive orders was to create the Truth Commission, tasked to investigate corruption scandals during Mrs. Arroyo’s nine years in power. "Senator Alan Cayetano should be the first to know that we are not the best of friends with the former president," Lacierda said. Lacierda said the large fund was allocated not out of political accommodation but out of necessity, because many public works projects need to be done in Pampanga, a province that was ravaged by the eruption of Pinatubo volcano in 1991. "We have to dredge some areas, we have to do some corrective measures on the area around Mount Pinatubo," he said. Lacierda, however, said the Palace has nevertheless asked Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to study phases of the project that are not urgent like the dredging of smaller rivers and the raising of some roads in Lubao town, Arroyo's hometown. "Provided it's not [yet] awarded and ongoing, we can talk to the funders," he said. According to the Department of Budget and Management, the P2.2-billion fund can be broken down as follows:

1. P1.61 billion for the Flood Control Works in Porac – Gumain River and Pasac Delta Area as part of the Mt. Pinatubo Hazard Urgent Mitigation Project Phase III, consisting of P1.32 billion from loan proceeds from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and some P289 million as counterpart of the Philippine government.
2. P590.85 million for the Sta. Cruz, Lubao – Dinalupihan section of the Gapan-San Fenando-Olongapo Road Project Phase II, consisting of P485.4 million from loan proceeds from the Korea Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and a P105.42-million peso counterpart.

DBM Secretary Florencio Abad said the P2.2 billion is part of a total P6.76-billion allocation for the two projects that will be funded with the help of loan agreements with the Japanese and Korean governments. The loan agreement with the JBIC, which will span five years from 2008 to 2012, seeks to "mitigate flood damage from the elevation of riverbed and the clogging of river way caused by outflow and sedimentation of pyroclastic flows, to secure the physical distribution, to improve the hygienic environment, and to promote sustainable development including the development of Subic-Clark in the project areas." The DBM said the flood control project will traverse the municipalities of Guagua, Lubao, and Sasmuan in Arroyo's second district; Mexico town and San Fernando City in the third district; and the municipalities of Sto. Tomas and San Simon in the fourth district. The project with the Export-Import Bank of Korea, meanwhile, seeks to “provide safer, convenient and faster travel for people coming from the south and north of the project area to various tourist and business destinations in Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan" and to “reduce transportation constraints on the existing road, include economic development in the area and promote the achievement of the development objectives," said Abad. “We are committed to reviewing these projects, among others, to make sure that their development purposes are indeed achieved. Furthermore, we are committed to instituting transparency and accountability in the bidding and implementation of these projects," said the budget secretary. Also on Wednesday, Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello proposed a comprehensive debt audit on the P2.2-billion fund allotted for Mrs. Arroyo’s district, and urged a Congressional investigation into road projects in the district. Bello accused Arroyo of padding the budget, adding that some of the projects such as the road elevation projects in Guagua are unfinished up to the present. (See: Audit sought for Arroyo's P2.2-B project in Pampanga)—JV, GMANews.TV