PUBAD02 Garcia, Kyla Jae P. Prof. Luisito Dela Cruz 2-APL Issues in Philippine Gov’t Procurement Policies POSITION PAPER: PORK BARREL SYSTEM Pork Barrel in the Philippines: Far from the Nature of the System Definition and Nature of Pork Barrel System The definition of the pork barrel system comes with different terms. In some cases, it is not called pork barrel but other terms like patronage and back scratching. In simple terms, pork barrel is defined as the use of large amount of money by government officials on a local project where they reside to use it to secure more votes and support by the people. It can also be defined as the "collusion between the Legislative and Executive branches of government to accumulate lump-sum public funds in their offices with unchecked discretionary powers to determine its distribution as political largesse.” (Rollo (G.R. No. 208566), p. 325.) The question is, how do these officials acquire such huge money? It comes from proposed budgets of a certain country that is more than the actual estimated usage, called the lump sum money. These discretionary money will be now in hands of certain officials in a more discreet way since it is acting like the residue. This is now how officials are able to use it to their own localities for projects that can eventually be in accordance to their own interest. In nature, pork barrel is a way of using lump sum money in good use, so it is a good act or system. It all depends on how it works and how it processes in a certain country. Plus, to give an estimate more than the actual need of the country says a lot about this system. PUBAD02 Magnitude and Effects of the System to the Philippines The pork barrel system in the Philippines had noble intentions where it “empower the legislators to identify key projects that local government units could not fund.” Those lump sum money were perceived to be used in good intentions (Limpot, 2021). Although, in the case of Philippines, this system had changed faces, turning the noble intentions to a tainted one due to the officials. Of course, the pork funds can’t escape abuse due to some corrupt officials that see this as an opportunity to do their illegal acts and satisfy their own interests. The most recent issue of pork barrel in the Philippines is the PDAF scam involving an alleged ₱10-billion scam manipulated by Janet Lim-Napoles. In this issue, it is allegedly reported that the cousin and employee of Napoles, Benhur Luy, was held captive by Napoles to avoid him from revealing the scam. The scam involved a large amount of money, several lawmakers, and 20 dummy non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These alleged brains have said to have swindled billions of government funds, wherein Napoles had given money to those dummy NGOs, where in reality, those funds were brought to her account. After the expose, several lawmakers namely Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Joseph Estrada, and Juan Ponce Enrile were revealed to be part of the scam. Obviously, they were held accountable but not for the most part because they were able to come clean just by going out of bail. Looking at this issue and how it was handled, it actually says a lot about the system in the Philippines, and how an act with a noble intention can go dirty. Pork barrel is evidently eminent in the Philippines, may it be in some small projects proposed for the benefit of the some people to big projects that can eventually help for the development of the country. The only problem is that the good intentions of pork barrel was being used PUBAD02 wrongly by some officials, in the end becoming a great loss for the country. Instead of helping the country, it gives more disadvantages. Due to this, the development is far from being acquirable, thanks to some officials who chose to abuse it. Arguments for and Against the System Giving a good chance for the Pork Barrel system, one have to consider the true and noble intention of it. It actually aims to help the country more and to empower the legislation, giving chances for local projects to manifest. It is also inevitable to make an estimate more than the actual needed budget since not everything is sure. So, the pork barrel helps in distributing those funds. But in reality, these good intentions are actually far from reality since it is in nature of the people, specifically officials, to abuse it. It gives this great opportunity to what they want and just to get those funds. But when we come and think of it, this kind of illegal act will not manifest if a good system or good government is manifesting. It is difficult to say that pork barrel is a completely wrong act, it can be sometimes based on the people who acts on it. Position on the Matter Similar to the ones stated in the arguments, we cannot really say if we should be against it or should be up for it. But looking closely, far from its nature, pork barrel really does give a great opportunity for illegal acts. We can avoid these acts by not actually giving the chance for it to manifest. Here are the reasons why pork barrel should not manifest: PUBAD02 (a) Prior to it, it is manageable for the fiscal administration to give an estimate for projects of the budget of the country not far from what the country really needs. The problem sometimes is the proposed budget is far from what the country needs, having these amount of money being lump sum. These lump sum, instead of being distributed to the benefit of many, is being abused by the officials. Now comes the emergence of illegal acts that came as issues. (b) Given that the acts have already happened, there is a little to none accountability for the people involved. Giving the PDAF scam as an example, those who are involved, mostly reputable lawmakers and officials, have been getting out of this issue easily. They can just bail out even guilty of illegal acts, even robbing the whole country of what they own. To summarize, pork barrel has good intentions but in reality, it just opens a lot of doors for corruption and illegal acts. As to the PDAF scam, we should be aware that some of those people involved are still running out free and might be doing more illegal acts. In here, we should actually turn to the system we have and try to explain why this happens. References: G.R. No. 208566. https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2013/nov2013/gr_208566_2013.html Kenton, W. (2022, July 13). Pork barrel politics. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pork_barrel_politics.asp Limpot, K. (2021, February 14). Explainer: What you need to know about the PDAF scam. cnn. Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/2/14/PDAF-scam-what-you-need-toknow.html
