Civil society and non-government organizations as well as the media and the public at large ought to be more vigilant on how the House of Representatives will craft the proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021.
Amid strong perception that the leadership dispute between Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig-Pateros and Rep. Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque was primarily over billions of pesos in pork barrel allocations, the need to guard against wasteful spending becomes more crucial.
The ouster of Cayetano subsequent to Velasco’s election as House speaker on Oct. 12 highlighted the fact that political patronage is very much alive in government, and Velasco’s repeated expression of gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte for settling the leadership squabble dispute the claimed independence of the legislature from the executive.
The 2021 budget serves as an election-year budget because it will be allotted to projects and programs that will have impact on the 2022 elections, notably infrastructures and dole outs for which the proponents could claim credit, as if they spend their personal money for those.
However, in view of the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, a significant chunk of the budget needs to be set aside for measures intended to respond to the health crisis and to rehabilitate industries and sectors heavily affected by the economic lockdown.
So much money had already been disbursed for dole outs this year through the Social Amelioration (SAP) under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Republic Act No. 11469.
According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), it has released ₱99.91 billion to 17.69 million families during SAP’s first tranche from April to June, and P83.05 billion for 13.90 million families for the second tranche. Each family received at least ₱5,000 up to ₱8,000.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) was reported to have been investigating more than 400 local executives linked to anomalous disbursements of the SAP. The investigations of SAP anomalies must be pursued relentlessly and erring officials held accountable as soon as possible to at least demonstrate that the Duterte administration is serious in its fight against corruption.
Given the alarming number of reported anomalies, the government should stop giving dole out and provide funds instead to ventures that can generate employment so that displaced workers can find work again and help resuscitate the economy.
Public vigilance is most important in monitoring projects proposed by legislators for funding in the 2021 budget to make sure that these are indeed what the communities need, and not only for personal gratification of the proponents.
Although the Supreme Court had already declared the pork barrel system as unconstitutional in Nov. 2013, legislators have found a way to go around the budget measure by way of the so-called “insertions” in the allocations of various agencies, instead of the old practice of having a lump sum amount in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Many of those who elected Velasco to become speaker were previously behind Cayetano. Their switch of support would not go unrewarded, and accommodation of their priority projects for pork barrel funding has been a common remuneration for votes, apart from positions and other perks in major standing committees.
Velasco’s ally, Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. of Negros Oriental, revealed two weeks ago that Pateros and Taguig’s two districts that Cayetano shares with his wife Lani stand to get P11.1 billion in infrastructure funds from the P4.5 trillion national government budget for 2021. Perhaps that was the reason Cayetano tried to railroad approval of the budget on second reading and wanted to cling on to the speakership until the end of December when the General Appropriations Act should have at least passed third reading or ratified by the bicameral conference committee.
If Velasco were to prove that he could be a better leader than Cayetano, he should apply a fine-tooth comb in scrutinizing the proposed 2021 budget to make sure that every peso is judiciously appropriated. It’s not too late to do that, but he needs to work overtime with the appropriations committee to go over the proposed “insertions.”
He should see to it that there would be no wasteful spending for cosmetic projects, such as the P389-million “white sand” project on Manila Bay, so that funds would go where those are urgently needed.
Velasco may have won the speakership fight, but he has yet to win public support as the fourth highest official in government. He can take the 2021 budget as a tool to prove that he is worthy of the position despite his inadequate experience and track record.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
