Budget pork-less but still vulnerable

SENATE Majority leader Alan Peter Cayetano believes the P2.6-trillion national budget for 2015 contains no legislative pork, but the absence of the law allowing public access to government transaction makes it susceptible to manipulation.

Cayetano said that even if Congress has removed the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the 2015 general appropriations bill and prevented cross-border transfer of “savings,” there is still a need for a strong transparency law that would open all government agencies to public scrutiny.