Under Santiago's proposal, the Priority Development Assistance Fund will be cut in half for 2014. The reduced amount will then be further slashed in half by 2015 and will be completely abolished in the following year.
"This will phase out the pork barrel, so that the gradual abolition will be acceptable to Congress members," said Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes, and laws.
MANILA, Philippines - Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Wednesday filed a resolution that would phase out pork barrel of lawmakers by 2016.
Under Santiago's proposal, the Priority Development Assistance Fund will be cut in half for 2014. The reduced amount will then be further slashed in half by 2015 and will be completely abolished in the following year.
"This will phase out the pork barrel, so that the gradual abolition will be acceptable to Congress members," said Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes, and laws.
The controversial PDAF hit the headlines again after an alleged scam involving the diversion of pork barrel funds of several lawmakers was recently exposed.
The pork barrel of these lawmakers are allegedly poured into dummy non-government organizations (NGOs) purportedly for ghost projects worth over P10 billion.
Currently, the PDAF allocated to each senator is P200 million per year, and P70 million to each congressman per year.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/07/31/1035471/miriam-files-resolution-abolishing-pork-barrel