MANILA, Philippines — Can the people of General Santos City and the rest of the first district of South Cotabato province live by “pork” alone?
This appears to be the battle cry of boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, who promises to bring home the multimillion pork barrel fund if he wins in the congressional race.
But reelectionist Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio on Tuesday said the hefty amount allocated to each member of Congress didn’t necessarily promise development in the congressional district.
“More than the pork barrel, our people need a well-planned and long-term development project,” Custodio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Tuesday.
She described the fund as a mere “stop-gap” measure intended to deliver say, social services, but without any clear vision.
She also said she had not received her budget allocation since she began criticizing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her second term.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao, who’s very close to Malaca?ang owing to his string of victories in the ring, was apparently using Custodio’s predicament as a campaign draw.
The boxer had earlier lamented what he called the lack of development in General Santos City, simply because Custodio’s politics had been getting in the way of the pork barrel.
But even without the allocation, Custodio said she was performing a more important role in standing up against the Arroyo administration.
“I am the voice of my constituents,” she said.
This is not to say, however, that the lawmaker was all talk.
In the absence of the pork barrel, she said she still managed to raise more than P1.5 billion worth of development projects in General Santos City. She noted that this amount easily dwarfed the congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund, which is around P60 million annually.
Custodio said the projects, intended to expand the fish port in the area, were effectively insulated from possible interference by Malaca?ang because they are foreign-funded.
Last year, she negotiated a project with the National Irrigation Administration, but the government-owned agency later withdrew from the project allegedly because of Custodio’s intense criticism of Ms Arroyo.
