Nograles insists 2018 budget is pork-free
Davao City 1st District Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles maintained on Wednesday that contrary to the allegations of Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, the House-approved 2018 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) is "pork-free."
"Just like last year, this year and the next years, I reiterate my position that the national budget is and will be free of any pork barrel," said Nograles, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
It was Nograles who, in his capacity as Appropriations panel chair, steered the House of Representatives (HOR) to approve the proposed 13.767-trillion national budget for 2018.
Nograles said Congress is
strictly complying with the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) which declared as unconstitutional pork barrel funds or lumpsum, discretionary funds that legislators in the past were able to control through postenactment methods or measures.
Dubbed the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the lawmakers' (both congressmen and senators) discretionary funds were used to bankroll specific programs for their districts.
Nograles said the House, which possesses the power of the purse, has exorcised discretionary funds from the annual budget. This was accomplished through line item budgeting which prevents post-enactment appropriations.
"Walang ganyan sa budget dahil lahat ng mga (We don't have that in the budget because all) programs are itemized and specifically defined and described in the budget book. The budget process and deliberations have been very transparent and the budget book is open to everyone's scrutiny," said the Davao solon.
Nograles noted that under the proposed P3.767-trillion budget next year, legislators cannot interfere in the disbursement and utilization of the funds as well as the implementation of the projects and programs as this is purely an executive function.
In short, the budget is turned over to the Executive branch once it is passed by Congress.
"From the moment the budget law becomes effective, no member of Congress can play any role in the implementation or enforcement of the budget since this will violate the principle of separation of powers as held by the Supreme Court," he explained.
"Legislators cannot regulate the release of funds or influence how the Executive Department would utilize the budget. Nothing in the budget law allows Congress or any of its members to play any role in the execution or implementation of the budget," Nograles said.
In the end, Nograles believes that President Duterte simply won't permit the return of pork.
"President Duterte abhors corruption just as much as he abhors drugs and criminality. He is also a lawyer. For these reasons alone, he won't let PDAF or any form of pork barrel crawl back into our budget culture," he stressed.
According to Lacson, the proposed budget, which is now being tackled in the Senate, is replete with pork barrel "insertions" from congressmen.
This supposedly makes the budget illegal since the SC has already deemed PDAF unconstitutional in 2013.
A former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and a veteran senator, Lacson's signature advocacy is his anti-pork stance.