The bridge and the pork

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

After PNoy’s State of the Nation Address that was unpopular for some, at least five Cordillera congressmen clinched with no opposition the chairmanships of very important standing committees in congress.

They are Benguet Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan for the powerful Committee on Public Works and Highways, the same committee he chaired in the 15th Congress; Ifugao Rep. Teddy B. Baguilat for the Committee on Agrarian Reform, Rep. Manuel S. Agyao of Kalinga for the Committee on Rural Development and Mt. Province Rep. Maximo B. Dalog who now heads the Special Committee for the North Luzon Growth Quadrangle. Baguio City Rep. Nicasio M. Aliping Jr. was elected as member to the influential Committee on Appropriations, while Apayao Rep. Eleanor Bulut-Begtang and Abra Rep. Ma. Jocelyn Bernos have yet to get into any of the unoccupied remaining committees next week.

Son of Ilocos Norte, Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is Cosalan’s counterpart chair of the public works committee in the senate. While congressional committees chase paperwork and take care of legislative matters, having an Ilocano-Visayan and an Ilocano-Ibaloi as chairpersons of the public works committees in both chambers should mean smoother implementation of the planning, construction, maintenance, improvement and repair of nationally funded government infrastructure projects such as roads, highways, bridges, parks, drainage, flood control, water utilities and buildings, at least in Ilocano speaking regions, particularly the Ilocos, Cordillera and Cagayan Valley.

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The P10 billion Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF scam reportedly carried out through dummy NGOs and ghost projects involving the pork barrel funds of five honorable senators and 23 congressmen have forced their colleagues to open inquiries leading to a possible scrapping of the pork barrel. 

Senate president Frank Drilon, Sen. Miriam Santiago and a good number of congressmen have expressed support to proposals that would gradually abolish the PDAF.  PNoy, however, has allocated P27 billion for the PDAF in its proposed national budget next year. Senators receive a total of P200M pork barrel annually while congressmen get P70M.  Of the P70M, around P30M is allotted for soft projects while the remaining P40M is allotted for small infrastructure projects.

But contrary to Drilon and Santiago, more lawmakers say that the pork barrel can “do the public a lot of good if it is used properly.” While senators and congressmen do the boring task of legislative work and go through the long process of making laws of local and national application, they also have to respond to resolutions from the provincial and municipal councils, barangays, people’s organizations, the PTA, school and student organizations, small multi-purpose cooperatives and livelihood organizations that appeal for medical, educational and financial assistance.

At the end of the day, legislative work occupies a back seat and merely takes on a supportive role of providing assistance, either financially or otherwise, the main goal of which is to supplement the meager budgets of government projects of local beneficiaries.

In a statement to the press, Sen. Chiz Escudero said the PDAF is a “great equalizer.” I agree. My personal observation is that the pork barrel is an assurance that at least P70Million worth of government-funded projects trickles down to a lawmaker’s “smaller” constituents, directly addressing whatever is needed by them. The safety of the PDAF depends on how it is used. For Sen. LitoLapid, he allowed P5 million of his 2011 PDAF to be spent for the purchase of “anti-dengue inoculants” for Polillo town in Quezon province, even while there were no reported cases of dengue fever in the municipality that year.

Most if not all LGU resolutions request for funding of small infrastructure projects like foot trails, footbridges, waiting sheds, multi-purpose buildings, day-care centers, and livelihood programs such as animal raising, loom weaving, meat processing, medical and educational assistance, among others. In the harsh mountainous regions of Mindanao and the Cordillera where movement of people and agricultural products are limited by a natural geographic terrain, the most practical and fastest means of transport in the absence of roads is the hanging bridge.

No doubt, the presence of a hanging footbridge and animal bridge sustains agriculture and uplifts the condition of farmers who have to transport their products across swollen rivers between two mountains that are hosts to two far-flung settlements. Installing footbridges means lesser transport expenses and minor mobility problems for local products from the farm to the public markets. It is a very practical and doable solution to providing support to farmers.

The PDAF system is the means by which the true needs of LGUs are found out. It would be unfair to have it abolished just because a few careless lawmakers allowed their shares to be used illegally. And doing so is denying growth for hundreds of undeveloped communities found in the remotest regions. – ozram.666@gmail.com