Lawmakers to get more 'pork' from road user's fund - Lacson

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Thursday confirmed reports that senators and congressmen will be given additional pork barrel from the multi-billion Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC) or the road user's tax. Lacson said the Road Board, which is an attached agency of the Department of Public Works and Highways, will give senators an additional P30 million and congressmen P10 million for road and infrastructures projects in the provinces of their choice. He quickly noted, however, that as far as he knows, the Palace had nothing to do with the sudden additional pork. The allocation will be sourced from the MVUC, which is collected for road maintenance, road safety, and pollution control. But Lacson admitted that he was surprised because this was the first time the Road Board gave them additional funding. He likewise said that the board didn't need to course the money through them. "Dapat siguro nakipag-ugnayan sila diretso sa governors and mayors (Maybe they should have coordinated directly with governors and mayors)," he said during the day's weekly forum at the Senate. Lacson, who hasn't claimed his pork barrel for more than 10 years, said he just instructed the Road Board to give his allocation to his home province of Cavite and Camarines Norte. The development came after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile denied that some senators received an additional P100-million pork barrel, also known as Priority Assistance Development Fund (PDAF), in exchange for their support of the postponement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections. The PDAF is a lump-sum appropriation in the annual General Appropriations Act to fund the priority development programs and projects of the government. The programs and projects implemented under this fund include scholarship programs, medical assistance to indigent patients, livelihood support programs, the purchase of IT equipment, rural electrification, water supply, peace and order, financial assistance to local government units for their priority projects and programs, and infrastructure projects. Members of the House of Representatives get P70 million in PDAF while senators get P200 million. — RSJ, GMANews.TV