Congresswoman asks budget chief to quit for withholding ‘pork’
A CLOSE ally of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has called for Budget Secretary Florencio Abad’s resignation, following his statement over the non-release of “pork barrel” funds of opposition lawmakers.
In a recent newspaper report, Abad said it is part of politics that some opposition legislators are deprived of their priority development assistance fund (PDAF), more commonly known as pork barrel.
Rep. Mitos Magsaysay (Zambales), who has not received a single centavo from her annual P70-million PDAF in the last two years, said Abad’s statement smacks of “power tripping and bullying.”
Abad said Magsaysay, along with Reps. Diosdado Arroyo (Camarines Sur), Augusto Syjuco Jr. (Iloilo) and Juan Miguel Arroyo (Ang Galing Pinoy party-list), will not receive their PDAF until 2013.
“Publicly stating that funds for vital projects that sustain our districts will be frozen due to political reasons is equivalent to depriving our citizens of services that they have paid for,” she said in a statement.
Magsaysay said Abad should explain the legal basis for withholding their pork barrel even if PDAF allocation for each district has already been identified under the approved General Appropriations Act.
“What he is doing is against the law,” she added.
“He knows as well as I do these rights because he has been a congressman himself. These are all stated under the law, provisions that they have conveniently forgotten and disregarded in the past couple of years,” Magsaysay further said.
The Zambales lawmaker also said that Abad’s statement that the projects will continue through allocations from the Department of Public Works and Highways is “unacceptable.”
“Not all the projects in the district involve infrastructure. People need more than infrastructure to uplift their lives. What about their need for a sustainable education program, a project for livelihood, health issues?” she asked.
In a text message, Abad clarified that he “was not referring to the opposition as a bloc.”
“The truth is that their districts are not being deprived,” he said. (Sunnex)