Lawmakers will get an equal share of the pie for allocations of projects in their districts as the administration avoids the age-old practice of patronage politics, the Department of Finance said Friday.
“The Speaker has always said that we will all be given equal budget so everyone would have equal allocation. Some P80 million for projects, all congressmen will be given an equal P80 million,” said DoF spokesperson Paola Alvarez, daughter of incoming House Speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.
In a television interview, Alvarez clarified that some districts may have more budgetary allocation than the others, depending on their immediate needs.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had defended the proposed P80-million priority allocation for projects to be identified by each member of Congress, saying that they are not trying to circumvent the ruling on the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Development Assistance Program declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Diokno said that congressmen and senators will be allowed to identify projects to be included in the proposed 2017 General Appropriations Act, under the P80-million Priority Development Assistance Fund allocation for each House member in efforts to return the “power of the purse” to the Legislative branch.
The allotment represents a P10-million increase for each legislator over the P70 million in pork barrel that they received in the previous Congress.
Diokno however, stressed that the P80 million claimed by lawmakers is just “hypothetical,” saying that some projects can be struck down in the budget process itself.
Alvarez explained that the administration is already doing away with lump sum allocations for congressmen in accordance with the SC ruling.