History of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or more

commonly known as Pork Barrel

According to Political analyst Tony La Via he term "pork barrel" is meant to be an
insult. He said the pork barrel is tied to American history wherein slave owners gave
their slaves a barrel of salted pork that they would have to fight over.

From the Americans. The pork barrel originated in the U.S., but it is not so
clear when. The Americans introduced the concept of the pork barrel. In an
article by Hugh Rawson, which is posted on the American Heritage website,
the origin of the term is explained thus: "The metaphor stems from the practice
in the pre-refrigeration era of preserving pork in large wooden barrels of brine.
The political usage may have been inspired by the distribution of rations of salt
pork to slaves on plantations." Rawson cited journalist C. C. Maxey, who
observed: "Oftentimes the eagerness of the slaves would result in a rush upon
the pork barrel in which each would strive to grab as much as possible for
himself. Members of Congress in the stampede to get their local appropriation
items into the omnibus river and harbor bills behaved so much like the slaves
rushing the pork barrel, that these bills were facetiously styled 'pork-barrel'
bills." Bottom line: It started out as some sort of "bribe" to control people. We
do have to note that it was unfair to compare abused slaves to congressmen.

Year 1922, Pork Barrel reached the Philippine soil. In the Vera Files article
"Pork by any name," journalists Yvonne T. Chua and Booma B. Cruz wrote:
"By the time the notion of pork barrel rolled into the Philippines, it was already
1922. That was when a Public Works Act separate from the General
Appropriations Act (GAA) was first passed. It didnt take long, however, before
the Philippine version of the pork barrel acquired a sleazy sheen, no thanks to
the shenanigans of legislators." During this time, there was no president. The
US Civil Governors of the Philippine Islands governed the Philippines
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Act 3044, the first pork barrel appropriation, essentially divided public
works projects into two types. The first typenational and other buildings,
roads and bridges in provinces, and lighthouses, buoys and beacons, and
necessary mechanical equipment of lighthousesfell directly under the
jurisdiction of the director of public works, for which his office received
appropriations. The second grouppolice barracks, normal school and other
public buildings, and certain types of roads and bridges, artesian wells,
wharves, piers and other shore protection works, and cable, telegraph, and
telephone linesis the forerunner of the infamous pork barrel.

Martial Law and absence of Pork barrel. There was no pork barrel per se
during this time. "During martial law, there was no pork barrel but that doesn't
mean there was no corruption. The money just went to the cronies of Marcos.
(Tony La Via)

Batasang Pambansas version of Pork Barrel. The Batasang Pambansa
introduced a new item in the annual General Appropriations Acts National Aid
to Local Government Units: the Support for Local Development Projects or
SLDP. Chua and Cruz explained: "Each assemblyman received P500,000 in
SLDP. But pork barrel items no longer just came under the form of public works
projects, or 'hard' projects as they are called these days. Sure, legislators still
allocated their SLDP to capital outlays and infrastructure projects like
schoolhouses, municipal buildings, roads, and the like. But they also used the
money for what are now known as 'soft projects' such as the purchase of
medicines, fertilizers, fumigants, insecticides, paints, and sports equipment, or
for scholarships for constituents." The SLDP was the closest thing to the pork
barrel during the Marcos administration.

Pork comeback. President Cory Aquino reintroduced the Pork barrel, after
martial law made it unnecessary, when she assumed power extra-
constitutionally. Her regime was so unstable that there were seven coup
attempts to topple her. She bought political leaders loyalty and gave them a
stake in representative government through her pork barrel system,
euphemistically called the Countrywide Development Fund or CDF.


The Pork continues in Ramos administration. Chua and Cruz wrote: "During
his administration, President Fidel V. Ramos fashioned other forms pork in an
attempt to ensure continued support for his legislative agenda from Congress.
Among these were the Public Works Fund, restored in 1996; School building
Fund; Congressional Initiative Allocation or CIA; El Nio Fund; and the Poverty
Alleviation Fund."

Eraps Pork version. When he campaigned for the presidency, Joseph Estrada
vowed to abolish pork barrel, which by then had been swirling in controversy after
controversy. But once he got into office, the former action-film star did not entirely
scrap the legislators' discretionary funds. He simply changed the system, taking
pains to remove only the CDF-type of pork barrel and retaining the rest, such as the
School building Fund and the CIAs. He even added his own type of pork barrel, the
Lingap para sa Mahirap Program.
Estrada at first sought to limit the use of district funds to only hard projects,
and created the Rural Development Infrastructure Fund or RUDIF, a facility that was
exactly the same creature as the Public Works Fund. Each congressman was
supposed to receive P30 million, but the amount was merely a gentlemens
agreement. The 1999 national budget carried no special provision that indicated the
amount each congressman would get, leaving legislators at the mercy of the
executive branch, namely Estrada.


Another name for Pork. Clamoring for the restoration of funds for soft
projects, Congress successfully lobbied for a share of P2.5 billion Lingap para
sa Mahirap Fund, which was supposed to be channeled to poor families in
the form of a package of assistance, including food, nutrition and medical
assistance; price support for rice and corn; protective services for children
and youth; rural waterworks; socialized housing; and livelihood development.
The congressmen gained two-thirds control of the fund for their so-called
projects.
Then came the comeback of the CDF or as then President Estrada
preferred to call it, the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF. Given a
ballooning budget deficit and rising criticism against pork at the time, though, a trade-
off was inevitable: Legislators lost some of their discretionary power. Under the new
system, at least on paper, congressmen would identify projects from a narrow set of
project categories determined by the executive.
Present-day Pork. The PDAF is still around; with it are the special-purpose
funds. During all the controversy of this Pork barrel, President Benigno Aquino
III yielded to public pressure and announced to scrap the Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Oink!






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Sources:
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/pork-name-140158329.html
http://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/54292/oink-history-spotphs-pork-barrel-timeline
http://opinion.inquirer.net/59649/the-future-of-the-barrels-of-pork