EXPOSES BARE NEW CRACKS IN PORK BARREL

They may involve (a) House leaders and their allies, who gobble up big amounts for their districts, raising the issue of inequality and discrimination as well as wisdom in choosing projects and (b) DBM officials, perhaps with Malacañang collusion, cornering fat contracts from the pork barrel, drawing suspicion of rigged bidding. It used simply to be just thievery in the implementation of projects. Now they start early.

WHAT WAS UNCOVERED in the 2013 scandal on pork barrel – or funds from the central government for projects in local governments -- was the looting in that stage of implementation. They were non-existent or “ghosts” or just semblances of programs that were documented information and data.

The massive stealing called “the grandmother of all scams” that funneled an estimated P10 billion during a period of six years involved these conspirators: the House member or senator who was allotted the fund and identified the project;

bureaucrats of the department that oversaw the supposed implementation;

the NGO or private contractor or supplier who either had an actual firm or just a front or shell; and

the broker, Janet Napolos or some other lesser-known middleman or middle-woman, who coordinated the heist.

Five years or so since the scandal was exposed, it is back. It is not known if there would be actual stealing – the general appropriation act that sets aside the amounts is still to be approved by the Senate and will be implemented in 2019.

But a number of cracks in the barrel are already exposed, indicating possible inequity, if not fraud, in the preparation of the funds and most probably in the spending of the money.

1 HOUSE LEADERS AND ALLIES GET HUGE AMOUNTS FOR THEIR DISTRICTS

Sen. Ping Lacson set the alarm off by accusing House Speaker Gloria Arroyo and Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Andaya getting P2.3 billion and P1.4 billion respectively for their districts when the previously disclosed amount was only P60 million for each House member and P200 million for each senator. We do get the funds, GMA and Andaya said but others even get more. “We’re upper middle class,” quipped GMA.

The public was misled on the amount for each lawmaker. Among the lawmakers themselves, there was huge disparity in the sums, with the leaders and their allies getting the much bigger shares. Or so Andaya struck back, opening another can of worms in the enactment of the 2019 national budget.

2 P75 BILLION WORTH OF CONTRACTS BIDDED, WITH AT LEAST 30 INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS “ALREADY CORNERED BY A LONE CONTRACTOR,” EVEN BEFORE THE P3.575 TRILLION BUDGET LAW IS PASSED.

Meaning, the pork funds are already committed to contractors as the enactment process is still not completed with the Senate. With a clear advantage given to one favored contractor who snagged this early some 30 projects.

Some people can’t wait. And public officials need funds for reelection. Many contractors are willing to risk advances on

3 DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT (DBM), WITH PROBABLE COLLUSION WITH MALACAÑANG, MAY ALSO BE STICKING ITS FINGERS INTO THE PORK.

Aside from the award to at one least one favored contractor, the in-laws of DBM Chief Benjamin Diokno who are House members reportedly received huge chunks of project allotments under the 2019 GAA.

The question of Diokno using his position to favor his relatives led to a House resolution asking President Duterte to fire the Cabinet secretary. If other Palace people are in it too, that would be awkward, wouldn’t it?

REMOVE the insertions, according to Senate President Tito Sotto. Easier said than done, since the pressure of next year’s midterm elections might persuade the senators to look the other way and let the “inserted” items pass scrutiny.

And there’s still the problem of whether meddling with the appropriation largesse has not violated the criteria set by the Supreme Court in its landmark case on pork barrel five years ago. Did it constitute “post-enactment” activity, such as giving the lawmakers discretion in identifying the project, naming the private contractor and controlling release of the money?

Senator Lacson’s advocacy is put to a test by the series of disclosures that may set off another explosion over pork barrel or -- if the senator would condone the mad scrambling over projects and yield to the demand for the bill’s passage -- avert the crisis within the ruling party. And would opposers to pork barrel go to court this time?.