THE proposal for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to put off implementation of certain public works till after the midterm elections, including those meant to fix infrastructure projects heavily damaged by last year’s spate of violent typhoons, would hobble government efforts to boost the resiliency especially of high-risk communities, create more jobs and keep the Philippine economy on its high-growth path amid external and local headwinds, CamSur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has warned.

“Putting infrastructure projects on hold till the year’s second half, especially those planned public works meant to make vulnerable communities highly resilient ahead of this year’s typhoon season, will mean putting these places at risk anew this year for the tropical cyclones and other natural calamities of increasing frequency and intensity as a consequence of the climate crisis,” Villafuerte, a former governor and president of the National Unity Party (NUP), said.

Villafuerte pointed to the dire implications of such a suspension of critical DPWH infrastructure works under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2025 that was enacted by the President last Dec. 30, as he dismissed Wednesday’s proposal by former Senate President (SP) Franklin Drilon that such were congressional “pork barrel” projects whose implementation should be postponed by Mr. Marcos by classifying them as ventures whose funding under the national budget are “for later release” or FLR.

The immediate implementation of the projects are crucial, he said, especially for climate mitigation and adaptation that are meant to repair projects damaged by last year’s increasingly violent calamities or for infrastructure meant to make especially climate-vulnerable villages more resilient against the increasingly erratic weather events this year and onward.

As an example, he said, travel to Bicol became a nightmare during the holidays last December owing to the heavy damage caused by typhoons to the Andaya highway in CamSur, leading to travel delays of 7 to 8 hours.

If the government decides to put on hold the completion of projects to fix for good the Andaya highway, then motorists and commuters will have to brace again for the same travel nightmare later this year in the face of devastating storms, if the government were to heed Drilon’s FLR proposal, he said.

“I am afraid former SP Drilon has made a sweeping statement with his proposal for certain DPWH works to be classified by President Marcos as FLR on the ex-senator’s belief that these are pork barrel projects of legislators,” Villafuerte said.

In the first place, he said, “these are not pork barrel projects of legislators by the very definition of the Supreme Court (SC) on what actually constitutes pork barrel projects that the High Tribunal ruled as unconstitutional in a 2013 decision.”

“Rather than being sourced from lump sum discretionary outlays in the annual GAA and identified by legislators after the enactment of the national budget, these projects whose implementation Drilon wants to be deferred till after the May polls have been identified or listed under the line-item budgeting in which every one of them has a specific allocation or line under the budget of a specific agency, which, in this case, is the DPWH, based on the GAA already enacted into law by the President,” Villafuerte said.

“Moreover, these projects are designed to create more jobs and drive higher growth, especially in the countryside where these are to be implemented,” said Villafuerte, “considering that infrastructure works have the highest multiplier effect on the economy—in terms of stimulating local economies and spawning direct and indirect jobs and providing incomes to Filipinos.”

Hence, he said, frontloading, rather than postponing, the implementation of the projects that Drilon wants to be classified for FLR or delayed funding, is the way to best help the Marcos administration keep the economy on its robust, post-pandemic recovery—in support of the President’s Bagong Pilipinas vision of better lives for all Filipinos on his watch.

To pump-prime the economy and create a lot more jobs and livelihood opportunities, Villafuerte said that these projects, rather than be classified for FLR or delayed funding, should be implemented right away before the ban on the release or disbursement of public funds for infrastructure projects kicks in starting March 28, or 45 days before the balloting as provided for in the Omnibus Election Code.

During the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III, Villafuerte recalled that Drilon, as the then-Senate President, had defended or justified the legality of funds released for projects endorsed by legislators under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which was challenged before the SC.

Villafuerte said that with the kind indulgence of Drilon, he was quoting the explanation of the former SP in defending the DAP outlays as it could similarly stand as well for the legality of the projects in the 2025 GAA that the retired legislator from Iloilo wants to be classified as FLR for supposedly being “pork barrel” works.

Just like what the projects that Drilon wants to be classified as FLR, the former SP said in an Oct. 13, 2013 statement that the DAP outlays were for “a list of infrastructure projects recommended by legislators and local government officials to be implemented by the DPWH … We were only asked to list down a number of projects which were immediately implementable at that time in order to accelerate government spending and boost the economy.”

Drilon said in his same October 2013 statement that he used his P100-million DAP funds for the construction of the Iloilo Convention Center, and that the DAP outlays achieved the goal of pump-priming the economy and creating livelihood opportunities with additional infrastructure projects as the subsequent improved public infra spending fueled an economic growth of 6.8% in 2012 from just 3.6% in 2011.

Just like how Drilon had described the legality of DAP after its constitutionality was questioned in the SC, Villafuerte said the 2025 DPWH projects derided by the former SP are likewise above board as these are projects under line items in this year’s national budget that are immediately implementable to accelerate public infra spending and boost the domestic economy—and not sourced from any lump-sum discretionary budget available to lawmakers.

“These are not congressional pork barrel projects as struck down by the SC in its Belgica vs Ochoa ruling, as their funding sources are not from lump-sum discretionary allocations but funded through specific line items in the 2025 GAA,” Villafuerte said.

In its 2013 decision on Belgica vs Ochoa, the SC had described pork barrel as lump-sum discretionary funds that legislators, in a post-enactment authority, were allowed to appropriate for projects that they have determined, in contravention of the separation of powers between the Executive and Legislative branches of government.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco