If Malacañang wants senators and congressmen to give up a portion of their pork barrel funds to ease the government deficit, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should set the example by cutting her Special Purpose and “unprogrammed” funds in the proposed P1.541-trillion national budget for 2010.

United Opposition (UNO) president and Makati Mayor Jejomar aired this unsolicited advice after the Arroyo administration reportedly cut by 30 percent the Priority Development Assistance Fund allocated for each lawmaker.

Earlier, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the pork barrel allocation in the proposed 2010 national budget is pegged at P6.94 billion, from P9.666 billion in 2009.

“Malacañang doesn’t have to look beyond the Office of the President for savings. Even if we assume that Mrs. Arroyo will receive the same pork barrel funds for 2010, slashing it in half would easily give the admin P418b illion in savings,” he said.

Citing the report of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) that Mrs. Arroyo has allotted P835.97 billion in “presidential pork barrel” funds, Binay urged Malacañang to be transparent enough and reveal how much has been earmarked as “presidential pork” in the 2010 budget.

“The 2009 budget did not contain details on how Mrs. Arroyo’s pork barrel funds will be disbursed and for what purpose. This time, Malacañang should provide Congress a detailed list of how she intends to disburse her pork barrel in 2010,” he said.

The opposition leader noted that the Special Purpose and “unprogrammed” funds are released solely on the discretion of Mrs. Arroyo unlike PDAF which are covered by guidelines.

“When you have such an amount to be disbursed at Mrs. Arroyo’s discretion during the election period, we can expect a repeat of the misuse of funds reported during the presidential 2004 election,” he said.