What’s in a name? A lot, say Arroyo allies in House - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

What’s in a name? A lot, say Arroyo allies in House - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

What’s in a name? A lot, say Arroyo allies in House


By Leila B. Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:38:00 08/17/2010

Filed Under: Inquirer Politics, Advertising, Graft & Corruption, Local authorities, Infrastructure


MANILA, Philippines—Self-effacement is apparently not one of their virtues. On top of that, they can’t seem to let go of the past.

Lawmakers from the minority bloc in the House of Representatives made it clear Monday that they wanted to keep their names—and, possibly, even their faces—on billboards announcing the projects they had sponsored, saying it was the best way to tell their constituents what they were doing with their pork barrel.

That much they impressed upon Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, whom they invited to lunch so they could air their concerns on the use of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), as the pork barrel is officially called.

The PDAF is widely perceived as a major source of official corruption.

The Department of Interior and Local Government earlier urged local chief executives to follow President Benigno Aquino III’s lead and not to advertise their names and faces on billboards announcing government projects.

The exhortation was a departure from a practice in the past, especially during the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when the names and even faces of some lawmakers who funded projects out of their pork barrel were flaunted on billboards.

Why names are important

The minority congressmen who lunched with Singson included known allies of Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative.

Speaking to reporters after the luncheon meeting, deputy minority leader Danilo Suarez said lawmakers from provinces near Metro Manila usually had no problem regularly seeing their constituents and telling them about their projects.

But in provinces far from the capital, many residents won’t know that their representative in Congress has sponsored a project unless the lawmaker himself publicizes it, Suarez said.

‘Leave us alone’

“They might think that since we’re always in Manila, we’re not doing anything,” he said.

Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco believes lawmakers should be left alone if they want to put their names and faces on billboards.

“There is nothing wrong if you will put your name [or] your picture, especially if you are handsome or beautiful. Now, of course, if you’re not good-looking you don’t want to put your picture there,” Syjuco said.

He said people should let the President be if he didn’t want his name and face plastered on public signs. “But if we want to put [ours] in our districts, I hope they won’t interfere with our plans,” he said.

Syjuco said the billboards also allowed the lawmakers a chance to show their constituents that they had kept their campaign promises.

Better to look young

Suarez thumbed down a suggestion that only the project’s cost and contractor be mentioned on billboards, without the congressman’s name. If this is done, he said rebels would know the cost of the project and demand revolutionary tax.

Suarez was amenable to keeping lawmakers’ faces out of billboards—with only their names emblazoned on them—and joked that some of his colleagues had even used their high school photos on the billboards.

A billboard is not expensive anyway, he noted, since it costs only around P4,000.

Suarez said Singson also told lawmakers that as long as they were using their own money to build the signs, Singson could not stop them as that was their right.

“He just said not to use public works funds,” Suarez said.

Sneaky mayors

Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay defended the use of billboards to announce the projects sponsored by lawmakers.

“That’s one form of transparency on our part also, to be putting our names on the projects that we do. If the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) and P-Noy administration stop us from doing this, then how will they know what we do with our PDAF?” Magsaysay said.

Camarines Norte Rep. Elmer Panotes said that in his province, if a lawmaker failed to place his name on a project, a mayor would claim it as his own by putting his own picture there.

If lawmakers are going to be barred from putting their names and faces on project billboards, all other local officials should be covered by the ban, Panotes added.

More leeway

Siquijor Rep. Orlando Fua thinks that putting up signs on their projects ensures that lawmakers will closely supervise their construction.

Suarez also said the minority bloc wanted more leeway in using their pork barrel.

For instance, in case of natural disasters where schools are damaged, lawmakers could not just order the public works department to use their pork barrel to buy roofing and cement to rebuild the buildings.

Suarez said that at present, lawmakers have to write the committee on appropriation to ask that funds be allocated to repair classrooms. The request has to be approved by several departments and the process could take months.

When it comes to scholarships using pork barrel, the minority believes that the funds should not be coursed through an agency but sent directly to the school, Suarez said.

At present, beneficiaries from provinces are sometimes made to travel long distances just to get their allowances, which may not be that big, anyway, Suarez said. But if the money is sent to the school, the student