Govt tames party-list solons with P50m pork barrel each

PUBLIC Works Secretary Rogelio Singson on Friday promised P50 million in projects to 57 party-list lawmakers who demanded “equal treatment and a sense of parity” with congressmen who received additional funding for their districts, but House leaders balked at the offer, saying it would set “a bad precedent.”

House Senior Majority Leader Janette Garin, Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones, and Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy confirmed Singson’s offer.

Palmones said Singson met with the party-list lawmakers and assured them there were funds to accommodate their projects, but that they were told the recommendation should come from House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Belmonte met with 30 of the party-list groups Thursday night and said their request for equal footing with other congressmen would be granted “subject to availability of funds.”

“The party-list lawmakers felt we were being treated as second-class citizens, and we were being left out as far as infrastructure projects were concerned, and so we simply wanted equal treatment and a sense of parity,” Palmones told Manila Standard.

He said the scheme being worked out was that the Public Works Department would come up with road concreting projects and party-list lawmakers would identify which areas they wanted their P50 million spent on.

“For example, in Samar, 20 of us can allocate P20 million each so we can have a longer concrete road, because we were told that one kilometer of concrete road is worth P20 million,” Palmones said.

“The P50 million, in short, is only worth two-and-a-half kilometers of concrete road. That’s why our roads are in such poor shape.”

But Garin said House leaders were discouraging the new appropriations because they would entail P2.85 billion in fresh funds.

“What Secretary Singson does not realize is that the party-list lawmakers would start from scratch,” Garin said.

It is not as if [Public Works] would simply allocate a few million. That would mean P50 million for each of the 57 lawmakers, and that would mean an additional appropriation of PP2.85 billion. We are setting a bad precedent here.”

As this developed, Zambales Rep. Maria Milagros Magsaysay raised to the plenary Manila Standard’s story on the supposed P4.05 billion “special provision” that the party-list group Akbayan allegedly inserted into the budget.

Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, described the Standard articles as “mischievous,” and said the special provision was meant to ensure that a French loan worth P4.05 billion would go to agrarian reform areas and beneficiaries.

But Magsaysay said the letter, signed by Abaya, also spoke of subsidies.

“Are you trying to realign the foreign loan budget to these provisions other than bridges?” Magsaysay said.

Abaya replied that he had no power to realign funds and that only the plenary could do so. He also said the funds would be used only for bridges in agrarian reform communities.

When Magsaysay asked why there was a need to use an “erratum” in the Public Works budget when the P4.05 billion had already been allocated for bridges, Abaya said it was “an afterthought” that came after the Budget Department had submitted the 2011 budget.

Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao said there was no “gravy” for her party, which would not be the recipient of the funds. –Christine F. Herrera, Manila Standard Today