By Judy F. Partlow
DUMAGUETE CITY, (PNA) -– Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV on Friday announced he is certain that the proposed abolition of the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” for legislators will be supported by majority of the members of the Philippine Senate.
The senator arrived in Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental, on Friday, for a host of activities and to thank the constituents for their votes that earned him the top spot of elected senators in the province in the May 13 polls.
At a press conference at a local hotel in the city, Sen. Aquino disclosed that at least 15 senators had shown support to the scrapping of the pork barrel.
“The abolition (of the pork barrel) in the Senate is almost a sure thing already,” Sen. Aquino said.
He explained that the PDAF of senators will be returned to the national treasury and these funds intended for development projects shall be coursed to the various government line agencies.
Aquino also disclosed that he expects charges to be filed against the lawmakers and even the whistle-blowers allegedly involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam before the end of the month.
He said that as per the report of the Commission on Audit, some of the non-government organizations named recipients of lawmakers’ pork barrel admitted that part of the funds allocated them went to ghost projects.
The problem, he said, is that there was no physical verification of whether the funding was truly implemented.
Some agencies are just satisfied with paper documentation only, Aquino noted.
According to him, agencies are given three percent from the PDAF funds for the monitoring of NGO-recipients.
At the end of the day, these agencies also have a liability, he added.
Sen. Aquino was scheduled to meet with Governor Roel Degamo and attend other personal and professional activities lined up for him in Negros Oriental prior to going to Siquijor province on Saturday to attend the annual Siquijor Day.