House minority to boycott budget hearings due to 'pork' delays

Opposition members in the House of Representatives will not attend deliberations on the proposed 2012 national budget in protest of delays in releasing their Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF), commonly known as the “pork barrel." House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said all 34 minority lawmakers decided to boycott the budget hearings after they experienced “uneven treatment" from the administration on the distribution of the PDAF. “It is pointless for Minority members to participate in the budget briefings and hearings because after the General Appropriations Act is enacted, allocations are impounded and immobilized," he said in a statement on Monday. Lagman added that 14 of the House minority members have not yet received their PDAF a year after they had requested for it. Eighteen others, meanwhile, got partial releases. The opposition leader likewise said that their bloc decided to not participate in budget deliberations since their inputs are being brushed aside by the majority. “No amount of relevant inputs coming from the minority is considered meaningful once the ascendant majority decides to approve the budget in full at the behest of the President," he said. The House appropriations committee on Monday morning started deliberations on Malacañang’s proposed P1.8-trillion budget for 2012. Earlier in the day, an opposition member, Davao del Sur Rep. Mark Douglas Cagas, grilled Budget chief Florencio Abad over unreleased portions of his PDAF. Lagman said Cagas was not yet aware of the House minority’s decision when he attended the budget hearing. — MRT/VS, GMA News