The pork of Trillanes

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

What appears to be an attempt by the administration's bright boys to blame the walk-out from the court of Senator Antonio Trillanes on mercenary reasons, has obviously opened the proverbial can of worms as far as the controversial fund, officially called by so many names, but continues to be known as the pork barrel, is concerned.

Shortly after the walk-out and the high drama staged by the police at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati, talk circulated that Trillanes, the military officer who had led the mutiny of several others at the Oakwood Condominium in 2003, also in Makati, had sought for the release of P100 million or 50 percent of the pork barrel money that he, like all the others elected with him, are entitles to. Trillanes, and all of us know, of course, that our senators have P200 million each allocated for them in the country's annual budget, while for congressmen, it is P70 million.

That may be true or not, since this is an era of vicious propaganda and manipulation of information, which both the administration and the opposition are experts at. However, the release of that story about the bid of Trillanes for the P100 million, had caused the ears of the ever curious media to perk up, and after a bit of snooping, we get the information that many solons, both in the Senate and in the House, especially those from the Opposition, have not actually been blessed with their pork funds, contrary to popular belief.

Among those who made this disclosure are Senators Richard Gordon, Rodelfo Biazon, Jamby Madrigal and even Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel. They said they had not been given their pork money since 2004 yet! It has not been disclosed who else among the senators have been denied, or had their allocations withheld, but it looks as if the release of the funds depend on the powers-that-be who decide whether the solon has the proper project and deserves it.

So what happened to all those millions, already budgeted, but never released? Who can demand for a list of those who had availed of their pork all these past years, and why? The people must know, so they can check how much their solons, especially their representatives, have received, and on what they had spent it.*