GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Filtered By: Topstories
News
5 senatorial bets won’t use pork if elected
By MIRIAM GRACE A. GO, Newsbreak online Most of this year’s senatorial candidates consider the much-criticized pork barrel allocations as a given, with many of them pushing for specific projects so the public can gauge their performance more accurately in the next six years. 
But five of them, led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a reelectionist who has previously given up his pork barrel allocations, prefer to forgo it. The other senatorial candidates who reject the pork barrel system are detained ex-Navy Ltsg. Antonio Trillanes IV and the three candidates of Ang Kapatiran: Martin Bautista, Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, and Adrian Sison. Legislation is primarily policy work. But through huge pork allocations that are the envy of their counterparts in many parts of the world, Filipino legislators enjoy access to money that allows them to assist their constituents and get re-elected in the process. Its past misuse had triggered cries for its abolition, but to this day, pork remains on top of a legislator’s daily diet. Each senator gets a pork allocation of P200 million a year, or P1.2 billion in a six-year term, to fund pet projects. A congressman and a party-list representative gets P70 million a year or P210 million in a three-year term. Responding to a survey conducted by Newsbreak and the Washington-based NGO National Democratic Institute for National Affairs (NDI) from late March to early April, most senators picked the education sector as the main beneficiary of their pork. This was followed by projects dealing with livelihood and agriculture, health, housing, public works, and the local government units. On the issue of amending the Constitution to change the form of government, seven of the respondents—all allies of President Arroyo—said they were in favor of a shift to a parliamentary form of government. The others either rejected charter change or felt it was a good idea but that it wasn’t a good time for it. Of the 37 senatorial candidates, 24 replied to the Newsbreak-NDI questionnaire, including 11 of the 15 that polling firms say “have a statistical chance of winning." They were asked to: * list three specific projects they will fund with their P200-million-a-year pork barrel fund; * discuss what bill or measure they will file or support that will secure jobs or increase job opportunities for Filipinos; and * explain why are they in favor or not of changing the Philippines’ form of government to parliamentary. 
The survey was also conducted among the nine candidates of three congressional districts: the second district of Makati City, the 2nd district of Kalookan City, and the 1st district of South Cotabato. Only three districts were chosen to serve as case studies based on three criteria: that at least two of the rival candidates are young, or between 25 and 35 years old; that the seat is hotly contested; and there is increasing Internet use in at least one urbanized town or city in the district. Questions about pork allocation, legislative agenda geared at specific sectors, and charter change were also sent to 18 party-list organizations that claim to represent or serve the sectors that deal with the three top personal concerns of voting-age Filipinos, as determined by the quarterly surveys of Pulse Asia—education, employment, and health. At the time the Newsbreak-NDI survey packets were sent out, the Commission on Elections had accredited only 44 organizations for the party-list elections, thus the respondents were chosen from that partial list. Two congressional candidates in the three districts as well as seven party-list groups responded to the survey. The answers of the senatorial, congressional, and party-list respondents are available in www.philvoters.net and www.newsbreak.com.ph/votersguide/nationalissues/index.html. Newsbreak told the candidates: “There has been public perception—and this is because of publicized findings of anti-corruption watchdogs, audit agencies, and the media—that lawmakers often misuse their pork barrel fund, which is intended to deliver services to their constituents. Such unlawful or improper diversion of funds may be avoided if voters have clear and specific lists of projects against which they can check the performance of each lawmaker." Lacson, who is running under the banner of the Genuine Opposition, said he would continue to forgo his pork allocation, which he has been doing since 2002, “after seeing first hand [the fund’s] potential for graft." He said that if only all lawmakers would give up this discretionary fund, the government will save P22 billion in year—or P16.5 billion from those intended for congressmen, and P4.6 billion from those intended for senators. Those “pork savings," he said, “can significantly slash our budget deficit, or fund priority projects" to be implemented by the executive branch. Detained rebel soldier Antonio Trillanes IV thinks the same way: “Should I win as senator, I intend to waive my pork barrel allocation and exhort others to do the same." 
Ang Kapatiran is the only party with a stand on pork barrel allocation, and that is to forgo it. The new party has three candidates: Martin Bautista, Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, and Adrian Sison. Bautista said that “legislators have no business usurping the responsibilities best left to a competent and clean executive branch." However, if they would be “allowed to sign the check" or “mandated to use the fund," Bautista and Sison said they would give them to Gawad Kalinga, a self-help housing project for poor families initiated by the private sector. Pet projects Administration candidate and former Bukidnon congressman Jose Miguel Zubiri acknowledged that “senators are foremost legislators" and that allocating pork for services is “secondary to the legislative mandate." But given the funds, he would still channel them to his pet projects, which include those that will protect and manage the environment. His party mate, re-electionist senator Ralph Recto, said: “Let’s beat pork barrel into plowshares, not the other way around. Regardless of funding source, I would support" livelihood and agriculture-related projects, among others. The rest of the senatorial candidates simply enumerated their choices for pork-funded projects and gave brief explanations for each. Based on their responses, the candidates’ pet projects are classified into seven: public works/infrastructure; livelihood- and agriculture-related; education; health, housing; local government units; and others, or those mentioned by only one candidate. Education-related projects were the top choices, with 17 of the 24 respondent senatorial candidates having them on their lists. The projects included building classrooms, training the educators, and providing scholarship to outstanding students. The opposition’s Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III will fund projects that will strengthen the curricula for pre-school and early-grade school levels, as well as improve the teaching of science and mathematics. Administration bet Luis “Chavit" Singson will fund post-graduate studies for young people so they will have better chances of landing “higher paying jobs" and therefore contribute to the nation’s growth. Sonia Roco, widow of former education secretary Raul Roco, has the most number of education-related projects. These include putting up “a repository of instructional materials in Science, Math and English to replicate the best teaching techniques in public schools" and reviving community libraries and learning centers to be partly sustained by the communities themselves. She says there should be catch nets for school dropouts, including “an alternative education program using public school buildings and facilities on weekends and tapping a pool of public school retirees." She also wants allocation for “compulsory education for children with special needs." Eleven senatorial aspirants want to fund projects that will increase or improve livelihood opportunities for Filipinos, mostly those working in the farms and small-scale enterprises. Genuine Opposition’s Nikki Coseteng, a former senator, wants to use her pork in building cold storage facilities near fish ports, orchards, and vegetable plantations to “lengthen [the] shelf life of produce and allow food processors time to turn fresh produce into higher value marketable finished products." Cooperatives should run these facilities, she said. The administration’s Zubiri and Edgardo Angara intend to fund projects that would implement the Agriculture Modernization Act, with Zubiri adding that he wants projects that will protect the agriculture sector from smuggling. Health, jobs Ten senatorial candidates have health-related projects, such as feeding programs and health insurance for the poor. Coseteng wants funds to be directly placed in government hospitals, like the National Kidney and Transplant Institute. Alan Peter Cayetano intends to give P5 million to P10 million worth of equipment as incentive to “hospitals that are run very professionally." Michael Defensor will give local government units assistance to run public hospitals better, since the responsibility had been devolved to them without the corresponding funds. Recto will support the creation of a Philippine Medical Academy, “a network of medical schools that will churn out doctors who will serve here (in the Philippines). Members of this ‘long white line’ will have emoluments comparable to the real PMA (Philippine Military Academy) in Baguio. They can be deployed in the regional heart, lung, and kidney centers whose establishment I am also batting for." Independent candidate Richard Gomez, being a sportsman and anti-drug abuse advocate, has very specific projects toward his advocacies. He wants to build rehabilitation centers for drug dependents, where they will be given skills training to prepare them for re-integration in their communities. He wants national athletes to be able to earn college degrees while training by having a special curriculum design for them. He also wants to put up a liberal pension program for athletes who have excelled in their fields. For the second question, Newsbreak asked the candidates about their legislative agenda on job security and employment opportunities. We explained to the candidates that “most other top personal concerns of Filipinos are hinged on being gainfully employed, i.e. having enough to eat every day and giving themselves or their children quality education." Eighteen of the 24 respondents promised to file new bills to create more jobs, while three—Bautista, Gomez, and Lacson—said they would only file amendments to or improvements on existing laws and policies. Others enumerated their past livelihood projects or gave vague answers. Singson, an advocate of federalism, presented his own unique plan to create more jobs in the countryside. He cited how the Virginia Tobacco Law that he authored as former congressman has since developed the agricultural sector in the Ilocos region by providing “billions of pesos of funds to LGUs of Virginia tobacco-producing provinces." He said he would put in place similar laws “for provinces producing rice, sugar, coconut products, corn, geothermal energy, metals, and other agricultural products. A portion of the taxes collected on the finished products of our provinces should be channeled back directly to their respective LGUs." The third question was on whether the candidates favored the shift to a parliamentary form of government, which the Arroyo administration has been pushing. Not the right time Of the 24 respondents, eight said they favored the shift, most of them allies of President Arroyo. These were Angara, Defensor, Villar, Zubiri, Recto, Gomez, and Vicente Magsaysay. Defensor gave a safe answer, saying he doesn’t have a bias for any form of government and that he will abide by whatever form the public wants. Villar supports a parliamentary form of government if the shift is done through a proper and lawful process. Recto has nothing against a parliamentary form of government, but he wants the legislature to remain bicameral. Gomez clarified that he’s in favor of the shift if it’s “not merely the dictates of a particular political force.". Those against changing the form of government are Coseteng, Paredes, Roco, Trillanes, Felix Cantal, Oliver Lozano, Teresa Oreta, Francis Pangilinan, and Vicente Sotto III. Others were in favor of charter change in general, but think that this is not the right time for it, either because they distrust President Arroyo who’s pushing for it, or they think that the Filipinos are not yet politically mature for such set-up. These are Aquino, Bautista, Lacson, Singson, and Loren Legarda. Cayetano gave a vague answer, while Sison opted not the answer the question. - with reports from Lou Janssen Dangzalan and Jesus Llanto of Newsbreak online.
But five of them, led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a reelectionist who has previously given up his pork barrel allocations, prefer to forgo it. The other senatorial candidates who reject the pork barrel system are detained ex-Navy Ltsg. Antonio Trillanes IV and the three candidates of Ang Kapatiran: Martin Bautista, Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, and Adrian Sison. Legislation is primarily policy work. But through huge pork allocations that are the envy of their counterparts in many parts of the world, Filipino legislators enjoy access to money that allows them to assist their constituents and get re-elected in the process. Its past misuse had triggered cries for its abolition, but to this day, pork remains on top of a legislator’s daily diet. Each senator gets a pork allocation of P200 million a year, or P1.2 billion in a six-year term, to fund pet projects. A congressman and a party-list representative gets P70 million a year or P210 million in a three-year term. Responding to a survey conducted by Newsbreak and the Washington-based NGO National Democratic Institute for National Affairs (NDI) from late March to early April, most senators picked the education sector as the main beneficiary of their pork. This was followed by projects dealing with livelihood and agriculture, health, housing, public works, and the local government units. On the issue of amending the Constitution to change the form of government, seven of the respondents—all allies of President Arroyo—said they were in favor of a shift to a parliamentary form of government. The others either rejected charter change or felt it was a good idea but that it wasn’t a good time for it. Of the 37 senatorial candidates, 24 replied to the Newsbreak-NDI questionnaire, including 11 of the 15 that polling firms say “have a statistical chance of winning." They were asked to: * list three specific projects they will fund with their P200-million-a-year pork barrel fund; * discuss what bill or measure they will file or support that will secure jobs or increase job opportunities for Filipinos; and * explain why are they in favor or not of changing the Philippines’ form of government to parliamentary. The survey was also conducted among the nine candidates of three congressional districts: the second district of Makati City, the 2nd district of Kalookan City, and the 1st district of South Cotabato. Only three districts were chosen to serve as case studies based on three criteria: that at least two of the rival candidates are young, or between 25 and 35 years old; that the seat is hotly contested; and there is increasing Internet use in at least one urbanized town or city in the district. Questions about pork allocation, legislative agenda geared at specific sectors, and charter change were also sent to 18 party-list organizations that claim to represent or serve the sectors that deal with the three top personal concerns of voting-age Filipinos, as determined by the quarterly surveys of Pulse Asia—education, employment, and health. At the time the Newsbreak-NDI survey packets were sent out, the Commission on Elections had accredited only 44 organizations for the party-list elections, thus the respondents were chosen from that partial list. Two congressional candidates in the three districts as well as seven party-list groups responded to the survey. The answers of the senatorial, congressional, and party-list respondents are available in www.philvoters.net and www.newsbreak.com.ph/votersguide/nationalissues/index.html. Newsbreak told the candidates: “There has been public perception—and this is because of publicized findings of anti-corruption watchdogs, audit agencies, and the media—that lawmakers often misuse their pork barrel fund, which is intended to deliver services to their constituents. Such unlawful or improper diversion of funds may be avoided if voters have clear and specific lists of projects against which they can check the performance of each lawmaker." Lacson, who is running under the banner of the Genuine Opposition, said he would continue to forgo his pork allocation, which he has been doing since 2002, “after seeing first hand [the fund’s] potential for graft." He said that if only all lawmakers would give up this discretionary fund, the government will save P22 billion in year—or P16.5 billion from those intended for congressmen, and P4.6 billion from those intended for senators. Those “pork savings," he said, “can significantly slash our budget deficit, or fund priority projects" to be implemented by the executive branch. Detained rebel soldier Antonio Trillanes IV thinks the same way: “Should I win as senator, I intend to waive my pork barrel allocation and exhort others to do the same." Ang Kapatiran is the only party with a stand on pork barrel allocation, and that is to forgo it. The new party has three candidates: Martin Bautista, Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, and Adrian Sison. Bautista said that “legislators have no business usurping the responsibilities best left to a competent and clean executive branch." However, if they would be “allowed to sign the check" or “mandated to use the fund," Bautista and Sison said they would give them to Gawad Kalinga, a self-help housing project for poor families initiated by the private sector. Pet projects Administration candidate and former Bukidnon congressman Jose Miguel Zubiri acknowledged that “senators are foremost legislators" and that allocating pork for services is “secondary to the legislative mandate." But given the funds, he would still channel them to his pet projects, which include those that will protect and manage the environment. His party mate, re-electionist senator Ralph Recto, said: “Let’s beat pork barrel into plowshares, not the other way around. Regardless of funding source, I would support" livelihood and agriculture-related projects, among others. The rest of the senatorial candidates simply enumerated their choices for pork-funded projects and gave brief explanations for each. Based on their responses, the candidates’ pet projects are classified into seven: public works/infrastructure; livelihood- and agriculture-related; education; health, housing; local government units; and others, or those mentioned by only one candidate. Education-related projects were the top choices, with 17 of the 24 respondent senatorial candidates having them on their lists. The projects included building classrooms, training the educators, and providing scholarship to outstanding students. The opposition’s Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III will fund projects that will strengthen the curricula for pre-school and early-grade school levels, as well as improve the teaching of science and mathematics. Administration bet Luis “Chavit" Singson will fund post-graduate studies for young people so they will have better chances of landing “higher paying jobs" and therefore contribute to the nation’s growth. Sonia Roco, widow of former education secretary Raul Roco, has the most number of education-related projects. These include putting up “a repository of instructional materials in Science, Math and English to replicate the best teaching techniques in public schools" and reviving community libraries and learning centers to be partly sustained by the communities themselves. She says there should be catch nets for school dropouts, including “an alternative education program using public school buildings and facilities on weekends and tapping a pool of public school retirees." She also wants allocation for “compulsory education for children with special needs." Eleven senatorial aspirants want to fund projects that will increase or improve livelihood opportunities for Filipinos, mostly those working in the farms and small-scale enterprises. Genuine Opposition’s Nikki Coseteng, a former senator, wants to use her pork in building cold storage facilities near fish ports, orchards, and vegetable plantations to “lengthen [the] shelf life of produce and allow food processors time to turn fresh produce into higher value marketable finished products." Cooperatives should run these facilities, she said. The administration’s Zubiri and Edgardo Angara intend to fund projects that would implement the Agriculture Modernization Act, with Zubiri adding that he wants projects that will protect the agriculture sector from smuggling. Health, jobs Ten senatorial candidates have health-related projects, such as feeding programs and health insurance for the poor. Coseteng wants funds to be directly placed in government hospitals, like the National Kidney and Transplant Institute. Alan Peter Cayetano intends to give P5 million to P10 million worth of equipment as incentive to “hospitals that are run very professionally." Michael Defensor will give local government units assistance to run public hospitals better, since the responsibility had been devolved to them without the corresponding funds. Recto will support the creation of a Philippine Medical Academy, “a network of medical schools that will churn out doctors who will serve here (in the Philippines). Members of this ‘long white line’ will have emoluments comparable to the real PMA (Philippine Military Academy) in Baguio. They can be deployed in the regional heart, lung, and kidney centers whose establishment I am also batting for." Independent candidate Richard Gomez, being a sportsman and anti-drug abuse advocate, has very specific projects toward his advocacies. He wants to build rehabilitation centers for drug dependents, where they will be given skills training to prepare them for re-integration in their communities. He wants national athletes to be able to earn college degrees while training by having a special curriculum design for them. He also wants to put up a liberal pension program for athletes who have excelled in their fields. For the second question, Newsbreak asked the candidates about their legislative agenda on job security and employment opportunities. We explained to the candidates that “most other top personal concerns of Filipinos are hinged on being gainfully employed, i.e. having enough to eat every day and giving themselves or their children quality education." Eighteen of the 24 respondents promised to file new bills to create more jobs, while three—Bautista, Gomez, and Lacson—said they would only file amendments to or improvements on existing laws and policies. Others enumerated their past livelihood projects or gave vague answers. Singson, an advocate of federalism, presented his own unique plan to create more jobs in the countryside. He cited how the Virginia Tobacco Law that he authored as former congressman has since developed the agricultural sector in the Ilocos region by providing “billions of pesos of funds to LGUs of Virginia tobacco-producing provinces." He said he would put in place similar laws “for provinces producing rice, sugar, coconut products, corn, geothermal energy, metals, and other agricultural products. A portion of the taxes collected on the finished products of our provinces should be channeled back directly to their respective LGUs." The third question was on whether the candidates favored the shift to a parliamentary form of government, which the Arroyo administration has been pushing. Not the right time Of the 24 respondents, eight said they favored the shift, most of them allies of President Arroyo. These were Angara, Defensor, Villar, Zubiri, Recto, Gomez, and Vicente Magsaysay. Defensor gave a safe answer, saying he doesn’t have a bias for any form of government and that he will abide by whatever form the public wants. Villar supports a parliamentary form of government if the shift is done through a proper and lawful process. Recto has nothing against a parliamentary form of government, but he wants the legislature to remain bicameral. Gomez clarified that he’s in favor of the shift if it’s “not merely the dictates of a particular political force.". Those against changing the form of government are Coseteng, Paredes, Roco, Trillanes, Felix Cantal, Oliver Lozano, Teresa Oreta, Francis Pangilinan, and Vicente Sotto III. Others were in favor of charter change in general, but think that this is not the right time for it, either because they distrust President Arroyo who’s pushing for it, or they think that the Filipinos are not yet politically mature for such set-up. These are Aquino, Bautista, Lacson, Singson, and Loren Legarda. Cayetano gave a vague answer, while Sison opted not the answer the question. - with reports from Lou Janssen Dangzalan and Jesus Llanto of Newsbreak online. 
