By Ellson A. Quismorio Shame on the House of Representatives. This was what opposition solon ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro had to say over the two-day delay in the plenary debates for the proposed P3.757-trillion budget for 2019. ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro
(Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN) She rued the alleged wheeling and dealing on the so-called "parked pork barrel" amounting to P55 billion as the main reason for the delay. "Kahiya-hiya. Hiyang-hiya kami sa nangyayari dito sa Congress. Nag-decide na nga Supreme Court, nag-rule na sa pork barrel na ‘yan pero hanggang ngayon ay pina-practice pa rin. Ang dami pa ring mga lump sum (It was shameful. We are ashamed over what happened here in Congress. The Supreme Court has already ruled on pork barrel but up to now, it is still being practiced. There are still a lot of lump sums)," Castro said in an interview Wednesday morning. Castro was referring to the estimated P55 billion allocation in the proposed budget that as of Tuesday was realigned by the plenary acting as a Committee of the Whole. Allegedly, the amount was previously divided among 30 congressmen out of the 292-member Chamber. "Mabuti naman ‘yung P55 billion na ‘yun ini-allocate sa mga services pero majority pa rin noon ay naka-allocate sa mga DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) projects worth P30 billion na alam naman natin lump sum ito. At ngayon nga gusto nating malaman kung saan-saan itong mga project na ito, otherwise pork talaga ito (It's good that some of the P55 billion was allocated to various services but the majority of it was allocated to DPWH projects worth P30 billion, which we know are lump sums. We want to know what these projects are for, otherwise, these are really pork)," said the Makabayan bloc stalwart. In 2014, the High Court declared lawmakers' pork barrel-- or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)--as unconstitutional. The funds, which ranged from P70 million to P200 million per legislator, were lump sums and discretionary in nature, meaning it's up to the recipients how these would be spent. The multi-billion peso Janet Lim-Napoles pork barrel scam of 2013 demonstrated just how susceptible the funds were to corruption. "Ang kahilingan nga sana namin doon sa P billion na ‘yun, ‘yung P10 billion ibili ng bigas (pagbili ng palay sa lokal na magsasaka) tapos ‘yung P2.91 billion kahilingan ng mga state universities and colleges ‘yung mga over delayed na promotion na nila, bayad sa kanilang mga promotion. Yun ang ilan naming mga kahilingan (We'd rather that P10 billion from the P55 billion be used to purchase palay from our farmers, while the P2.91 billion would be given to state universities and colleges to augment the salaries of long-promoted teachers. Those are some of our wishes)," Castro said. No pork House Appropriations Committee chairman, Davao City 1st district Rep. Karlo Nograles denied in an ANC Headstart interview Wednesday that there was pork in the 2019 national budget. "First of all, we stick by the position that it is impossible for any insertions to be done in the NEP because that purely comes from the Executive Department. If you ask DBM (Department of Budget and Management), if you ask the economic managers, if you ask Malacañang, they’re also sticking by the position that this is the Executive Branch's budget. Everything that was submitted and inside the NEP (National Expenditure Program) is what was submitted by the executive," he stressed. Nograles said he didn't know why some quarters were claiming the budget submitted by the Executive had pork, as line items in the NEP were a result of a consultation process that involved regional development councils (RDCs) and the local government officials and legislators that comprise the RDCs. "Every region merong regional development council. And in the regional development council, you have different regional directors meeting together with governors, mayors, congressmen to propose the projects that are good for the districts–– what projects should be made for the districts," he explained. Over P1T borrowings Sponsoring the proposed budget Wednesday in lieu of Nograles was Appropriations panel vice chairperson, Compostela Valley 1st district Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora. In her sponsorship speech, Zamora bared that the government will borrow a total of P1.189 trillion in order to bankroll the planned big-ticket projects as well as pay off existing debts. “Of the total borrowings, P624.4 billion will be used to finance the deficit, settle P146.3 billion in maturing debt obligations, and the balance includes contributions to the bond sinking fund, and maintain sufficient cushion of cash in the Treasury,” Zamora said. Some P906.2 billion will be borrowed from local companies while the remaining P282.7 billion will be loaned from foreign companies. As far as government revenue is concerned, the lady solon said that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) are expected to collect P2.331 trillion and P662.2 billion, respectively. Meanwhile, other agencies are expected to chip in at least P25 billion. “The balance of 5.9 percent will come from non-tax revenues amounting to P188.3 billion while P2 billion is expected from the sale of government assets," she said.