MIRIAM BARES P 11.5 B SECRET PORK

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, vice-chair of the Senate finance committee, said that the 2008 budget was allegedly bloated by P11.5 billion for public works projects, which were secretly inserted by means of so-called “congressional insertions.”

“The life of an appropriation is two years. In 2009, President Arroyo may release these P11.5 billion insertions. By 2010, each project may continue to be implemented. Hence, I strongly suspect that most of these secret projects are going to be used by incumbent legislators for the 2010 elections,” she said.

Santiago also said that among the congressional insertions, P 7.9 billion are large lump-sum appropriations.

“The question is who will determine which project will be funded out of the two lump-sum funds. They should be subjected to the usual social benefit-cost analysis. This could be a standing invitation to corruption,” she said.

Santiago slammed certain projects allegedly initiated by individual legislators, although they have “low economic return.”

“The most glaring low-priority project is the construction of so-called multipurpose buildings, which reached a total of P131.1 million,” she said.

Santiago also hit individual legislators who initiated certain projects that she said “should be better done by local governments or government-owned corporations, like the Local Water Utilities Administration.”

Among these “rich potentials for kickbacks” that she cited are public markets in: Tabaco City ; San Vicente, Ilocos Sur; Arayat, Pampanga; and Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur.

“There is even a lump-sum appropriation of P165 million for Other Buildings. These are projects that have not even been identified yet. Since it is a lump sum, it is most likely subject to abuse,” she said.

Santiago said that certain projects which are best done through the Local Water Utilities Administration, but which are included in the 2008 budget are the water systems in: Pangasinan, fifth district; Bataan, second district; Muñoz, Nueva Ecija; Negros Oriental, first district; Negros Oriental, third district; Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur; and South Cotabato, second district.

MIRIAM DONATES PORK BARREL FOR PGH EQUIPMENTS

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago turned over P12 million worth of medical equipment sourced from her priority development assistance fund (PDAF) to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in a ceremony yesterday . 

Last year, Senator Santiago dared other senators to donate their annual PDAF, also known as pork barrel funds, to “kickback-free” projects, such as projects for the PGH, which is the country’s biggest charity hospital, and to the University of the Philippines (UP), the country’s premier state university. 

She also reiterated her call to other senators to donate to “clean” projects, instead of refusing outright their pork barrel.

“Mere renunciation of pork barrel does not constitute a public service. It needs follow-up to make sure that the money refused goes to worthwhile social services. Instead of seeking publicity for giving up pork barrel, senators should allocate their pork barrel to ‘clean’ projects where it is impossible to get a kickback, such as the importation of expensive medical machines to be made available free to the poor,” she said.

The medical equipment, consisting of endoscopic ultrasound machines and endoscopy systems, will be used for the improvement of patient services and the teaching-learning situations in UP-PGH’s gastroenteronomy section. 

Santiago has consistently been one of PGH’s top donors of medical equipment since 2005. The same year, she donated endoscopy systems to the PGH, while last year, she sponsored the construction of infliction control rooms, medical students’ call rooms, aux rooms and medical gas installation wards.

In 2005, she launched the “one senator, one PGH machine", a personal campaign intended to solicit pledges from other senators to donate to the PGH. Although the campaign has raised curiosity and interest among the senators, Santiago lamented that no senator has followed up on his or her pledge. 

UP President Ermelinda Roman, UP Manila Chancellor Ramon Arcadio, and PGH Director Carmelo Alfiler were also present in the turnover ceremony.

Press Release

26 April 2007

MIRIAM BARES P1.7 M SENATORS MONTHLY BUDGET,
CALLS FOR HONEST SENATE

Incumbent Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said that although a senator’s basic salary is only P35,000 monthly, a senator actually receives a monthly budget of some P1.7 million, thus posing to the senator’s moral character “grave temptation to commit big-time graft.”

The senator, who is a Laureate of the Asian Nobel Prize, known as the Magsaysay Award for Public Service, for honesty in the Immigration Commission, stressed that honesty is the most important criterion for senatorial candidates, although she added that there is no easy proof of honesty, except the previous career record and the candidates reputation among his past and present work colleagues.

Santiago was answering a question from TV host Karen Davila on a late night show Tuesday on why senatorial candidates are spending hundreds of millions to gain a seat in the Senate, when a senator’s basic salary is only P35,000.

Santiago said that in addition to the P1.7 million monthly budget, the added financial perks for every senator of some P760,000, consisting of some P560,000 for foreign travel, and P200,000 in annual capital outlay.

She told media that a senator’s monthly budget is released every month to his office, and there is no rule that requires the return of any excess money to the Senate, even if the senator hires very few employees in his staff, or works in the small Senate office for every member, in order to avoid paying rent for a secondary office outside of the Senate building.

The monthly sum of P1.7 million is supposed to cover staff salaries of some P773,000, as well as office expenses of some P998,000.

Office expenses include office rentals, utilities, office supplies, domestic travel, and similar items.

Santiago added that in addition to the office budget, there is a similar monthly budget for every oversight committee which the senator might chair.

She said that the biggest temptation to commit graft is represented by the annual pork barrel fund, which for 2007 will amount to some P200 million.

Santiago said that some senators and representatives reportedly take at least 10 percent kickback from their pork barrel funds as reported to her by building contractors who tried to approach her with similar proposals when she was first elected senator in 1995.

However, in 1995 when Santiago denounced this in a press statement, she recalled that only Sen. Juan Flavier confirmed her statement.

Also at the end of her first year as senator, Santiago returned some P750,000 to the Senate, but a number of senators criticized her because it raised public curiosity about the senators’ monthly budget.

The senator said that last year, she requested the Financial Management Bureau to tell her who are the senators who returned excess money from their monthly budget, and how much they returned, but the office told her that these data are confidential.

In 1996, a broadsheet headlined the story that Santiago was the only senator at that time to refuse a pork barrel, known as Congressional Initiative Allocation, on the ground that in her view it had no constitutional basis.

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Appeared in the 26 April 2007 issues of Philippine Daily Inquirer and Manila Bulletin

The Senator in the News

28 November 2006
From Inq7.net

SENATORS TO GIVE UP PORK IF ARROYO YIELDS DISCRETIONARY FUND

By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Posted date: November 27, 2006

SENATORS were amenable to the abolition of their pork barrel if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would forego the multibillion-peso fund at her disposal, Senate President Manuel Villar said on Monday.

“In fact, we prefer if there is no more pork barrel for everyone but this should include the President,” Villar said in an RMN radio interview.

But for the meantime, the Senate has slashed the P9.1 billion addition to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), more popularly known as the pork barrel, which the House of Representatives inserted in the proposed P1.126-trillion national budget for 2007.

The pork barrel finances the pet projects of legislators. Though the money is not directly released to senators and members of the House, the pork barrel is believed to be a source of kickbacks for lawmakers. The kickbacks come from contractors who bag the projects.

The P9.1 billion in the PDAF approved by the House was an increase over the P6.2 billion set aside for the fund by Malacañang when it submitted its proposed budget to the House.

A fuming Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago took to the Senate floor on Monday to denounce the House of Representatives for defending its “unconstitutional” act of increasing the P1.26-trillion budget for 2007.

Santiago, irked by the statement of Representative Jose Ma. Salceda, House appropriations committee chair, that she had gotten it wrong, said the increases made by the House were not only against the Constitution but were also fueled by greed and corruption.

She said the 17.3-percent increase the House gave itself was proof of the House’s “insatiable” appetite [for pork].

Last week, the senator accused the House of bloating the budget by over P8 billion, citing the “mind-numbing” increases in various departments.

Villar and Senator Panfilo Lacson raised the need to abolish the pork barrel after Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said over the weekend that Malacañang had the discretion to release the fund to selected senators and members of the House.

This came after Lacson said no more than five Malacañang-friendly senators were able to get half of their P200 million in individual pork last year. He also said Malacañang should explain where some P4 billion in unreleased pork fund for this year went.

It is hard to determine how much pork barrel the President has, considering that the entire budget is deemed at her disposal, according to Senator Franklin Drilon, chair of the Senate finance committee.

But he said he would try to find out when he prepares the final committee report on the 2007 budget, which is being deliberated upon in the Senate. The Senate finance committee approved the Palace-proposed P6.2 billion for PDAF.

Pork barrel becomes a headache for senators because they are besieged with requests from congressmen, governors, other local officials, schools and universities, hospitals and nongovernment organizations looking for funding for their projects that do not receive government support, according to Villar.

“At least if they know we do not have the pork barrel, nobody will come to us,” he said.

“But the problem is where will (all that money) go? All of that money in the budget now will go to the President.”

Of the P6.2 billion in the PDAF this year, Malacañang has released only P2.3 billion, according to Drilon.

Villar confirmed that most of the senators had not been able to avail themselves of their pork share. “To be fair to senators, they have not stopped working even if they do not have (the pork),” he said.

But he disagreed with the advice of Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier that senators butter up the President to get their share.

“That is also possible because there are hospitals who are asking for help but a majority of senators are not like that and we do not go to Malacañang to ask for that,” Villar said.

Drilon echoed Villar’s sentiment, saying he would not butter up the Palace just to get his pork. Drilon has not been able to get a single centavo of his pork barrel since he called for the President’s resignation in July 2005.

“Let’s face it -- Malacañang uses it as a political tool for its allies,” Drilon said.

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