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| THERE WILL BE no pork barrel or lump sum allocations for members of the House of Representatives, period. |
“I never said that members of the House of Representatives ‘will be entitled to their usual district allocations.’ The Supreme Court has already ruled against such lump sum allocations,” Mr. Alvarez said.
The Davao del Norte representative said the misimpression may have arisen from the P80-million cap that had been proposed for each legislative district per year, divided between infrastructure (roads, bridges, school buildings) and non-infrastructure expenditures like medicines.
“Putting a cap on project costs is realistic because public funds are limited and thus must be used judiciously. We want bang for the buck to get the most benefit for our people,” he said.
He clarified that House members “will only be allowed to propose projects needed in their districts.”
“What I said was that congressmen will be allowed to propose projects needed in their districts so they can be included in the line budgeting of the General Appropriations Act (GAA),” he added.
Mr. Alvarez pointed out that “the function of identifying priority projects is inherent in members of the House of Representatives because the people go directly to us to tell us what projects are badly needed by their communities.”
The Department of Budget and Management is expected to submit to the House a proposed P3.3-trillion national budget for 2017.
Mr. Alvarez also reiterated that the budget for the projects approved for inclusion in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) would be given to the agencies of the government that will implement them.
The Supreme Court ruling against lump sums also prohibits lawmakers from intervening or participating in any of the post-budgeting stages of a project’s implementation.
