Pork, parties, Binay, breaking bad

AS THINGS stand, it looks like the ruling coalition led by the Liberal Party (LP) of President Benigno S. Aquino III has more members implicated in the pork-barrel scandal than parties belonging to the opposition.

Of the 114 legislators who were allegedly involved in anomalous pork projects in 2007 to 2009, 38 now belong to the administration coalition.

About 33 of the 114 belong to the opposition parties while the rest are either already dead or have unknown political affiliations.

But then again, there is Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, who had also cornered big slices of pork. For three years in a row, 2011, 2012, and 2013, Binay had received a hefty P200-million slice of pork annually.

He had vowed to spend it on his project lists: scholarship for indigent students, medical assistance for the poor, and the construction of 200 senior citizen centers in as many towns and cities of the country.

Whether he spent it well is a question that state auditors have raised. In its annual agency reports on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2012 and 2013, the Commission on Audit (COA) found reason to conclude that Binay’s pork had turned bad.

Read Part 2 of PCIJ’s report, “Pork a la Gloria, Pork a la PNoy”:

* Solons in pork scam list: 38 LP, 33 UNA, 11 dead
* Binay’s pork: Breaking bad

To be sure, with each election in this country, the political landscape shifts, twists, and turns. As such, classifying the political leanings of the legislators who may or may not have benefited from pork-barrel projects is tricky.

Binay, who won as the opposition candidate for vice president, had wished for pork in a letter to President Benigno S. Aquino III in late 2010.

Because they were friends once before, Binay’s wish was granted, albeit in a manner that broke conventions. Aquino’s allies in Congress, including then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had lobbied to give BInay pork, while Senator Franklin Drilon, Liberal Party vice chairman and then Senate Committee on Finance chair, had endorsed it.

In Enrile’s mind, as the nation’s “No. 2 Man,” Binay “deserves to get his pork” because “he represents government… the sovereign people… the Republic of the Philippines next to the President.”

“In other words,” Enrile said, “we are not a monarchy system but he’s in effect in the position of a crown prince.”

But not everyone could be a “crown prince” like Binay. Many others thus decided to just jump ship to the LP camp, the political party in power after 2010.

Of the 114 names revealed in both the records of the whistleblowers and government agencies, only seven lawmakers had been originally allied with LP.

Many of the others had supported the Lakas political party of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Upon Aquino’s assumption to office in 2010, however, at least six of these pro-Arroyo lawmakers became LP converts.

More members of the Lakas-led administration coalition under Arroyo that later became the opposition under Aquino – 25 in all – shifted alliance in 2013. — PCIJ, August 2015