February 6, 2000 NEWS RELEASE

Non-government organizations and local officials today deplored what is slowly emerging as an "unconscionably pork-laden" P629-billion national budget that virtually sequestered a huge portion of the internal revenue allotment of local government units to augment pork barrel funds for senators and congressmen initially pegged at a staggering P41.9 billion.

"The pinpointed P41.9 billion pork barrel, that could run into billions more as indicated by a preliminary and partial study, is turning out to be the largest in the country’s history as a close look into details cleverly buried beneath 1,364 pages of the budget report will uncover," according to leaders of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) and the 1.2 million-strong Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines led by Laguna Gov. Joey Lina.

Initial findings of an ongoing detailed study into the provisions and various items of the 2000 budget recently ratified by both Houses of Congress reveal an "intricate maze of complexities" to camouflage numerous sources of pork barrel, said national coordinator Dan Songco of the CODE-NGO, a coalition of 12 NGO networks representing about 3,000 organizations and cooperatives nationwide.

Lina and Songco explained that special provisions requiring "prior concurrence" and "prior consultation" with members of Congress on government-funded projects are undoubtedly sources of pork barrel, including budget insertions supposedly called "Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), Micro-Enterprise Development, Assistance to Cooperatives," among others.

A partial budget study revealed that among the items "laden with pork" are from the Education Department, P2 billion for school building projects; Department of Public Works and Highways, P27.45 billion for infrastructure projects; and the National Commission on Indigenous People, P68.5 million intended for livelihood and scholarships.

All these require "prior concurrence" from lawmakers, meaning that these agencies should first seek prior Congressional approval for any project on school buildings, infrastructure, livelihood and scholarships, thereby hampering its implementation, Lina said.

Other "pork items" which require prior consultation are those of Agriculture Department, P6.15 billion for agriculture and fisheries modernization; PDAF, P3.33 billion; National Housing Authority, P1.87 billion for resettlement and housing projects; National Electrification Administration, P500 million for rural electrification and energy generating facilities; Commission on Higher Education, P449.40 million for grants and subsidies, Department of Social Welfare and Development, P69.21 million; and the Department of Trade and Industry, P18 million. Currently being determined are "pork items" for Departments of Interior, Energy, and Health.

"This is not only one of the worst budget bills ever passed but it is truly unconscionable for legislators to sequester P15 billion from the rightful IRA share of LGUs discharging frontline devolved services for the people, just to augment their pork barrel," Lina said. "(Senate Finance Committee Sen. John) Osmena is right when he said that what they ratified was a historic budget. The staggering amount of pork is unprecedented."

Lina said that the "prior concurrence or consultation" clause specified in about 32 special provisions "clearly shows not only the illegal intrusion of Congress into the authority and functions of the executive branch of government but that the President is virtually being held hostage by the legislative branch in the implementation of programs."

"Consultation may appear to be an innocuous word but when applied to the budget, it is concurrence just the same. Officials of national agencies are just too afraid to oppose senators and congressmen who can threaten to cut their budgets if they don’t tow the line," he added.

ULAP information director Angel Tugado said the budget study was triggered by widespread protests and resentment that have swept through the ranks of local officials last week amid persistent published reports indicating that legislators have made pork barrel insertions entitling each senator P175 million and each congressman P50 million, aside from another P5 billion more for senators, while slashing the LGU's IRA.

"This is a question of whether it is proper for Congress, in order to give way to their pork barrel, to reduce LGU funds and cause a drastic cutback in basic services for the people including less medicines for the poor who are sick and dying in dilapidated hospitals in the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th class provinces, cities, and municipalities," ULAP officials lamented.

Reacting to Osmena's published statement that "at no time in history did we have a budget cut of as much as P22 billion," Songco said it was the "most discriminatory" considering that of the P22 billion "real and contingent" cuts, a staggering 45 percent or P10 billion was directed against LGUs.

Songco added that about P5 billion more of the IRA has been set aside as equalization fund but these are removed from quarterly releases to LGUs and are also a source of pork barrel.

"Why pick on LGUs that are responsible for an array of devolved functions including health, agricultural, social welfare, peace and order, environmental protection, and other services transferred from national government agencies when there are so much budget items that could be slashed?" Songco added.

While saying they feel exhausted trying to convince legislators that any cut against the LGUs’ IRA is "unconstitutional, illegal, and grossly unfair," local officials revealed that "one of the underlying motives for the refusal to impose sizeable deductions in the budget of national government agencies particularly those that have transferred their functions to LGUs is to protect the pork barrel of legislators."

Disputing the legislators’ claim that Congress did not effectively cut P10 billion from the IRA but simply unprogrammed it and that the amount will be released once the revenues come in, local officials said lawmakers "were resorting to semantics as a way of expressing a polite no."

"As far as local officials are concerned, Congress has fooled no one," they said while casting doubts on the track record of the national government in releasing funds to LGUs as they cited last year's case when about P5 billion was transferred to an "equalization fund" for 1999 but with only P3 billion actually released to date. Aside from this, the national government still owes the LGUs P4.045 billion withheld in 1998, they said.

They stressed that the deferment of the LGUs' IRA until such a time when funds are available is illegal as it violates the sections 284 and 286 of the 1991 Local Government Code that states that the IRA shall be released to LGUs "without any lien or holdback that may be imposed by the national government for whatever purpose."

Defending the LGUs’ rightful share to their IRA, they also cited article 10, section 6 of the Constitution stating that LGUs "shall have a just share, as determined by law, in the national taxes which shall be automatically released to them."