Party-list solons to give to flood victims if Palace releases pork barrel

MANILA, Philippines – Party-list lawmakers said they would be willing to donate millions of pesos of their pork barrel funds to the victims of tropical storm “Ondoy” (Ketsana) and typhoon “Pepeng” (Parma), that is, if Malacañang releases the money.

The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), more popularly known as the pork barrel, of known critics of the administration has remained “unreleased” since 2006, Gabriela Representative Liza Maza said in a news conference Monday.

The progressive party-list bloc in the House of Representatives includes Gabriela, which has two representatives, Bayan Muna, which has three, Anakpawis, two, Kabataan, one, and Akbayan, two.

Each member of the House congressman is supposed to get a P70-million PDAF each year.

The pork barrel funds are not released to the House members themselves but are given through projects proposed by the lawmakers.

But Maza lamented that since 2006, not a single project they have proposed, including road repairs and new classrooms, has been approved.

“Huwag sanang ipitin ni Presidente and pondo at iyon ang ibigay sa mga nasalanta (The President shouldn’t withhold the fund since this can be given to calamity victims),” she said.

Akbayan Representative Walden Bello said his group has not received their pork barrel since 2005, noting that many storm victims would benefit from the money.

“We would like Malacañang to stop playing politics and release those funds,” Bello said.

Maza said despite the absence of pork barrel, party-list groups were able to launch their own fund drive for the typhoon victims. She said she and her fellow party-list representatives also participated in the cleanup drive in Marikina, Bulacan, Pasig and Quezon City.