DESPITE the Supreme Court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, the pork barrel is alive. Legislators have been allowed to propose programs, activities and projects for their respective constituents in the proposed 2019 national budget. Their pet projects are embedded in agency budgets. This is pork barrel politics.
Lump sum appropriations also raise alarm bells. Lump sums indicate an inherent vulnerability in the budget because of limited transparency and accountability. These are also not as detailed and specific as the budget proposals of regular agencies. These are vulnerable to reductions, transfers, and “adjustments.” Before we know it, we may see the revival of the Disbursement Acceleration Program legitimized in the national budget, too.
We must be vigilant during the implementation of local projects identified by legislators for inclusion in the national budget, during the preparation and legislation phases. We recognize the legislative’s power of the purse but the insistence of some legislators to identify the beneficiaries for government programs is an indication that the pork barrel system is alive even as post-enactment intervention was rendered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
We recognize the lawmakers’ desire to provide benefits for their constituents. However, the most appropriate way to do this is by actively participating in the Local Development Councils (LDCs) that are mandated to formulate development plans and public investment programs, in accordance with Sections 107 and 108 of the Local Government Code.
Identifying and solving the concerns of local people can best be addressed through the collective wisdom of local leaders, including civil society organizations, who are members of the LDCs, and of which the legislators in the House of Representatives are also members of. This way, the projects of legislators can better be rationalized within a development framework formulated by local leaders and local citizens’ groups, and which there can be consultations on with local citizens.
In all these, the role of citizens in ensuring transparency and accountability in the national budget cannot be overemphasized.
