LPP
asserts significance of Kilos Asenso fund over Congressional
pork
WHICH
should prevail over the other, the congressional pork barrel
or the Kilos Asenso Support Fund for local development?
The
League of Provinces of the Philippines, through its national
president, Bohol Gov. Erico B. Aumentado, wasted no time in
appealing to Congress to restore the national government counterpart
for the Kilos Asenso Support Fund to its original proposed
amount of P5 billion, after reducing it to P3,692,237,000.
In a letter to Speaker Jose C. de Venecia Jr. dated 12 April
2006, Aumentado verbalized the grave concern of the governors
and the other local government officials under the umbrella
of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines relative
to the reduction of the national government Kilos Asenso Support
Fund to P3,692,237,000 and asked for its restoration to P5
billion as proposed by the executive department.
He
said that governors have received information that the members
of the lower house opted to reduce the Kilos Asenso Support
Fund in order to beef up the congressional pork barrel.
Such move, however, does not sit well with the local government
officials and may have serious repercussions in the campaign
of the national government for charter change.
As
Aumentado candidly stated in his letter to de Venecia, “frankly,
I am apprehensive that the reduction of the national government
counterpart fund for the Kilos Asenso Movement will have some
serious repercussions in the forthcoming plebiscite for charter
change because LPP and ULAP members feel “betrayed,”
even at this point in time that our partners in Congress have
not yet attained their dreams of becoming leaders of the parliamentary
form of government.”
He pointed out to the House speaker that for the record, he
does not question the wisdom of the pork barrel for congressmen
and senators.
“As a former member of Congress, I understand and support
the justification that it is the “equalizer” in
congressional districts’ development especially in areas
of public service that lack funding support,” Aumentado
stated in his letter.
He, however, reiterated the official position of the LPP and
the ULAP that Congress should not have sacrificed the P5 billion
share of the national government in the Kilos Asenso because,
together with the P5 billion cumulative counterpart of the
LGUs, the P10 billion combined resources could accelerate
the development of infrastructure projects and programs in
the countryside that would reduce poverty in line with the
vision of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the local government
units.
The local officials further lamented that out of the reduced
amount, the House of Representatives further imposed a provision
for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses amounting to
P1,476,000,000 which leaves a measly P2,216,237,000 for the
national government’s share in the Kilos Asenso Movement
for poverty reduction and rural development.
He said the allocation for MOOE reduces further the impact
of the support fund for the Kilos Asenso, for which the LGUs
included in their respective budgets the aggregate amount
of P5 billion as their counterpart to the P5 billion of the
national government in order to implement projects under the
President’s Ten-Point Agenda whose end result is expected
to be poverty reduction. (ANGELICA J. SANCHEZ)
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