Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Thursday reiterated his demand to eliminate the Senate’s discretionary “leadership fund,” warning that it represents a far more insidious variation of the declared-unconstitutional pork barrel system by enabling legislators to influence budget proposals prior to formal congressional reviews.
Lacson stated that ongoing inquiries into alleged flood control anomalies—alongside recent court testimony from former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan—highlight how lawmakers can embed their favored projects into the national budget while it is still being drafted by the executive branch.
“The ‘leadership fund,’ (also known as) ‘allocables,’ is a worse version of the outlawed pork barrel system,” Lacson said in a statement.
The lawmaker stressed that the constitutional mandate of Congress is restricted to authorizing the budget during legislative deliberations, rather than meddling in the executive’s drafting of the National Expenditure Program.
Highlighting Bonoan’s court statement, Lacson noted that individual senators were reportedly allocated at least P500 million each under the “leadership fund” for their preferred initiatives in 2024.
“Why would members of Congress dip their hands in the budget preparation phase outside of the local development councils preparation of their local development plans where they are allowed to represent their districts?” he asked.
While clarifying that proposed budgetary additions are not inherently illegal, Lacson cautioned that permitting legislative intervention during the initial planning phase creates serious vulnerabilities.
“While insertions per se do not automatically translate to misuse of public funds, it could open the floodgates of abuse and misuse of public funds for some corrupt politicians,” he added.