MANILA, Philippines – The Makati City government announced having returned to the national treasury P54.7 million ($1.247 million)* worth of unused pork barrel released to the city by the Vice President and lawmakers.
In a statement on Tuesday, June 24, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay said the city remitted the said amount to the Bureau of Treasury the said amount, in compliance with the decision of the Supreme Court that declared the Priority Development Assistance Fund of senators and congressmen unconstitutional in November 2013.
The statement did not say what years the funds were released to Makati, although the list of sources indicated these were received over several years. The list included lawmakers who are no longer in office.
The unutilized pork barrel reportedly came from the offices of the following officials:
- Vice President Jejomar Binay (father of the mayor)
- Former Senator Edgardo Angara
- Former Senator Teresa Aquino-Oreta
- Former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr
- Senator Antonio Trillanes IV
- DIWA Representative Emmeline Aglipay
- Former Makati City Representative Agapito Aquino
- Dinagat Islands Representative Arlene Bag-ao
- Makati City Representative Mar-Len Abigail Binay (sister of the mayor)
- Former Taguig City Representative Laarni Cayetano
- Bayan Muna Representative Neri Javier Colmenares
- Former 1-UTAK Representative Zenaida de Castro
- Gabriela Representative Emerenciana de Jesus
- CIBAC Representative Cinchona Gonzales
- Makati City Representative Monique Yazmin Lagdameo
- Former Makati City Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr
- Former Akbayan Representative Loreta Ann Rosales
- Former PBA Representative Mark Aeron Sambar
- Former Abanse Pinay Representative Patricia Sarenas
- Buhay Representative Mariano Michael Velarde
- Former Buhay Representative Rene Velarde
- Former CIBAC Representative Joel Villanueva
“The city government of Makati decided to remit the unutilized PDAF in compliance with the decision of our Supreme Court. Makati is, after all, just the custodian of the fund. The legislators are the ones who decide where they want to use their PDAF,” Mayor Binay said.
COA: Makati’s unused PDAF bigger
The amount remitted by Makati is, however, lower than what state auditors say are unused pork barrel still with the local government unit.
The latest audit report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on Makati City – as of December 2012 – show that its “unexpended” PDAF was at P123.51 million ($2.82 million)* or more than double the amount it said it returned to the national government.
COA’s 2012 audit report on the city government, which is published on the agency’s website, says: “Our review and audit of the fund revealed that as of December 31, 2012, the amount of unexpended balance of the PDAF amounted to P123,514,496.”
The report also says that out of the said amount, more than half (or around P88 million) “pertains to prior years, which should have been utilized for specific priority development programs to benefit the poor constituents. The report shows Makati has unused PDAF from a decade ago, in 2004.
“Management was not able to fully utilize the PDAF due to the absence of monitoring. As verified, the covering Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) could no longer be presented, thus, the intended projects chargeable to the funds could not be determined,” the report says.
COA has yet to post its 2013 audit of the city on its website.
The Supreme Court declared the pork barrel as unconstitutional after the alleged misuse of billions worth of lawmakers’ discretionary funds broke out, sparking massive protests to abolish the system.
SC has already ordered the return of the P6.2 billion misused discretionary funds to the national treasury. – Rappler.com
*US$1 = P43.86
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