Budget war

Congress has the power of the purse, and lawmakers have used that power for a long time to identify and provide funding for their pet projects. For many years, lawmakers gave themselves free rein not just in picking the projects and programs but also in selecting the contractors and recipients of the funds.

The system offered wide opportunities for collecting kickbacks and illegally diverting public funds. After the biggest corruption scandal erupted involving the pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund, the Supreme Court ordered a stop to bulk appropriations and the congressional carte blanche, prohibiting lawmakers from earmarking projects for funding after the national budget has been approved.

Now a raging battle over socalled insertions in the 2019 General Appropriations Bill has led to Congress’ failure to pass the measure. This means the government will be operating on a reenacted budget at the start of the coming year. Accusations have been swapped about officials circumventing the SC order and inserting funding allotments that constitute pork barrel. Tossed into the controversy are accusations that certain congressional districts have received conspicuously higher allotments than others.

Reenacting the budget has been a source of corruption in the past and promotes inefficiency in the bureaucracy. The last time this happened was eight years ago.

Malacañang has promised to look into the swap of accusations. At the same time, Palace officials said President Duterte had rejected calls from congressmen to fire Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

For ordinary people, the biggest concern is the delivery of basic services, which are often adversely affected when politicians fight over funds. A second concern is whether the pork barrel system is being reintroduced under a different guise. This is something that Malacañang must clear up even as it moves to ensure that there will be no disruptions or new corruption scandals arising from the budget war.