Pork Barrel System: To Remove or Not to Remove?

The Aquino Administration is considering the idea of slashing the pork barrel funds allotted for every congressman and senator. This proposal was raised as a solution to the financial woes of the government. The Aquino Administration says that the previous administration made the government penniless and with huge amount of debt.

The pork barrel is given to members of Congress and Senate to fund their projects. However, the pork barrel system was vulnerable to be abused by the corrupt congressmen and senators. As a system controlled by the president, it was used by the previous administration to reward loyal congressmen. Oppositionist congressmen were deprived of their pork barrel.

Another problem is that the Commission on Audit (COA) is loose in monitoring the use of the pork barrel. There are investigations and reports from the media that shows that some congressmen never used their pork barrel in any projects. Those missing funds were pocketed by the corrupt congressmen. However, none of them were prosecuted.

The only job of congressmen and senators, as member of the legislative branch of the government, is the crafting of laws. They should not be given the money and power to initiate any project. We have different departments and local government units to handle those things.

The pork barrel system is open for corruption. Further studies will show that the intentions of this system when it was started were not done. Instead of helping their constituents, the corrupt congressmen pocketed the pork barrel and just a little amount went to the sub-standard projects of these congressmen. The Filipino people were being duped for a long time because of this system. It is time for the pork barrel to be removed and end this injustice to the Filipino taxpayers.