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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
First, the good news. Sen. Rodolfo Biazon is
“donating” his entire “pork barrel” of P200 million for 2008
for the rehabilitation of provinces devastated by Typhoon Frank.
Now, the bad news. The Department of Budget and
Management has not released even a single centavo from the
opposition senator’s “pork” for the last four years, so the
typhoon victims on Panay Island are not likely to benefit from
Biazon’s generosity.
Biazon announced at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado
on Thursday his decision to allocate his entire “pork” or
what’s left of it for the rehabilitation of the four Panay
provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Iloilo. He noted that Panay
was producing 800 metric tons of rice every year but the typhoon has
destroyed lands planted to palay (unhusked rice). Biazon also noted
the destruction of roads, bridges, school buildings and agricultural
facilities on the island.
“I hope Malacañang is listening to me,
because I am now asking that Malacañang release my Priority
Development Assistance Fund to the four provinces of Panay Island
for their rehabilitation,” he said.
The assistance fund, formerly called the
Countryside Development Fund, is the name in the national budget for
what is popularly called “pork barrel,” whose use is identified
by legislators themselves.
When the forum moderator, Jun Bautista, asked
Biazon if there had been releases from his “pork barrel,” there
has been none in the last four years, according to the senator.
“That is a fact. There have been no releases
since the opening of the ‘Garci’ tapes investigation. But
that’s beside the point. I do hope my request will be heeded. I
would like to help the island of Panay,” he said.
“Garci” originated from “Garcillano,”
the surname of Virgilio Garcillano, who was accused of cheating in
the 2004 presidential elections allegedly in favor of President
Gloria Arroyo. His telephone conversations with the Chief Executive
on carrying out the alleged fraud had been wiretapped. The political
opposition obtained copies of the “Garci” recordings that were
subsequently produced and presented them as supposed evidence of the
cheating in protracted hearings in the Senate. The hearings failed
to nail Garcillano on the accusation against him.
Biazon, as chairman of the Senate Committee on
National Defense, had spearheaded the investigation of the
“Garci” tapes in the Thirteenth Congress.
He was only one of the senators who had not
received their “pork barrel.”
Others without ‘pork’
Sen. Pia Cayetano was another and also on
Thursday she took exception to criticisms that some senators have
done little or nothing to help relief operations in Western Visayas
where Panay Island is.
“Senators, including myself, who have been
critical of the administration and those aligned with the opposition
have not been receiving funds due them under the Priority
Development Assistance Fund,” she said.
These senators, Cayetano added, would have been
in a position to help out more extensively in times of calamity
“if only this administration has not been selective in the release
of congressional allocations.”
She said her annual assistance fund has been
withheld by the Budget department since the second half of 2005.
“To be honest, it has been very frustrating
that as chairman of the Senate Committees on Environment and on
Health, I have not been able to support more initiatives than I
could have under the areas of my concern, given the absence of
funds,” Cayetano added.
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