BAYAN Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate on Saturday clarified he did not propose any infrastructure project, and also denied that his office was given a zero-budget for infrastructure projects.
He said there was no money removed from his office since he never asked for such.
He reacted to claims that the 24 opposition members of the House of Representatives were stripped of funding for their infrastructure projects.
He said the P11-billion fund, based on media reports, had been earmarked for infrastructure projects in the original General Appropriations Bill that was subject to conference discussions between the Senate and the House of Representatives during the past several weeks.
“Since my first term in Congress in 2013 and until now, I did not partake of any pork barrel-type congressional allocation in pursuance of our advocacy against patronage politics and the pork barrel system,” he said.
“Those reports apparently indicate the pork barrel system is still alive and the loopholes in the 2013 Supreme Court decision on Priority Development Assistance Fund are being used to make this porky habit still thrive in our political system. Only the style and name have changed but it is still the old patronage-driven pork barrel system,” he added.
He said efforts to completely abolish the pork barrel system remains a big challenge.
“We will continue to oppose it,” he said.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said 24 lawmakers were given zero-budget for their infrastructure projects under next year’s national budget, and the funds were realigned to finance free college tuition and compensation adjustment for military and uniformed personnel.