PALACE IS RELEASING LAWMAKERS 'PORK' - BELMONTE
MANILA, MAY 14, 2011 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. belied yesterday the claim of an opposition congressman that Malacañang has not been releasing the pork barrel funds of members of Congress.
He told a news conference that in fact, "131 members of the House have received or are in the process of receiving the first tranche of their allocations. My office is now looking for some of our members so they can get their SAROs (Special Allotment Release Orders)," he said.
A SARO is a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) document detailing the release of funds. Belmonte said the first tranche is equivalent to P35 million, or half of a congressman's annual pork barrel allocation of P70 million.
He said the P35 million is both for "hard" projects like roads and for "soft" projects like medical, educational and livelihood assistance.
He said 90 more members "have already submitted their list of projects but have not received their SAROs."
"I just had a meeting with DBM Secretary Butch (Florencio) Abad to follow up their submissions. I have been following up everybody's request," he added. He pointed out that the remaining 63 House members have not submitted their list of projects. He released a list of the 63, which includes Belmonte himself, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and her two congressmen sons, Diosdado of Camarines Sur and Juan Miguel of the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy, which claims to represent tricycle drivers and security guards.
The Arroyos belong to the opposition in the House, which Minority Leader Edcel Lagman heads.
The list of those who have yet to submit their projects also includes some staunch allies of the former president, such as Danilo Suarez of Quezon and Arthur Yap of Bohol.
Yap served as agriculture secretary in the Arroyo administration.
Not in the list are Lagman and Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas, the opposition member who raised the complaint about the alleged non-release of pork barrel funds.
"Mr. President, where is our pork?" Cagas asked during the minority's weekly news conference on Wednesday, addressing President Aquino. He said the chief executive should make good his promise to release the funds of congressmen, whether they are administration allies or critics.
Cagas must be among the 90 who have submitted their projects but who have not received their SAROs.
Belmonte said the DBM has returned the requests of certain members "because they did not comply with the guidelines on the use of pork barrel funds."
He said broadly, the guidelines require that the lawmakers' projects "should be in sync with what the national government is trying to achieve." This year's pork barrel holds about P25 billion for House members and senators.
The latter are given P200 million each, nearly three times the allocation for their House counterparts.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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