If there is anyone in this country who has the right to talk about the issue of legislators’ involvement in the preparation of the national budget—more formally known as the General Appropriations Act—it is Senator Panfilo Lacson. I say this because he was one of only two members of the upper chamber of Congress—the other was the late Joker Arroyo—who consistently refused to avail of their allotments under the Priority Development Assistance Fund, better known as the pork barrel.
So great indeed, is Senator Lacson’s aversion to the PDAF system that, like a member of the K-9 brigade, he can sniff PDAF-related activity from a mile away. And he has good reason to believe that PDAF is back after having lain low in the wake of the 2013 Supreme Court decision declaring PDAF unconstitutional. He can smell PDAF in the Duterte administration’s asking each of the 295 members of the House of Representatives—including the party-list members—to propose P80 million worth of projects for their constituencies.
Just how strongly Senator Lacson feels about congressional intervention in the preparation of the national budget—particularly its expenditures component—ºwas very evident in the recent Senate ways and means committee hearing on the National Expenditure Program. To illustrate this, I can do no better than reproduce hereunder the media-related exchange between Senator Lacson and the Secretary of Budget and Management, Benjamin Diokno, on the subject of letting the representatives propose P80 million worth of projects.
Lacson: “Why do the congressmen have intervention in the NEP? It is clear that the preparation of the national budget is the exclusive domain of the executive branch. Is this [intervention] constitutional? Is it legal? Is that compliant with jurisprudence?”
Diokno: “I am not saying that legislators should meddle with the NEP. What I’m saying is [that] if a project is worthwhile, then you should listen to the congressman. You as a congressman are entitled to approach a secretary before the budget is passed. [Projects] not aligned with the Duterte administration’s priorities would not be approved anyway, like basketball courts and waiting sheds.”
Lacson: “Isn’t that a clear conflict of interest because [congressmen] are involved in the authorization phase? How will they participate in the amendments budget? In oversight, how will they have objectivity when the budget [under discussion] includes their own projects? [I have] a serious issue with the funding mechanism ….. What’s important here is that a legislator should not meddle with the function of the Executive.”
Diokno: “You know very well I was one of the petitioners in the PDAF and DAP [cases], so I won’t be guilty of the same hypocrisy done in the past.”
Indeed, Benjamin Diokno was one of the courageous individuals who filed the cases against PDAF and DAP in the Supreme Court, and for that he deserves full commendation. But the fact is that the members of the pro-Duterte supermajority joined that group not for love of Rodrigo Roa Duterte but for their slabs of greasy pork.
Senator Lacson clearly has his job cut out for him, and so does Secretary Diokno.