Evardone to anti-pork rallyists: ‘Be more specific; avoid general accusation’

Anti-pork rally in Luneta (Carlo Mateo / DZBB via Twitter)

MANILA — A senior official of the House of Representatives on Monday urged anti-pork rallyists to be more specify and justify the items in the budget which they consider as “pork”.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said that Congress will surely look into the legitimate concerns of the “anti-pork” rallyists in the proposed P2.206-trillion 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“We will scrutinize every item in the proposed 2015 budget to ensure transparency,” said Evardone, senior vice chairman of the House committee on Appropriations.

“We would like to appeal to the rallyists to be more specific and avoid general accusation on the budget so that we will know if their demands are reasonable and can be accommodated based on law and the exigencies of governing,” he added.

Evardone said specifying and justifying the items in the budget which they think as “pork” would guide every lawmaker which of the items need additional scrutiny.

He, however, reminded anti-pork rallyists that “there are items (in the proposed national budget) which cannot be itemized like the appropriation for the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), debt-service, calamity and contingency funds, among others.”

The veteran lawmaker said that helping members of Congress in identifying the so-called “pork” in the proposed GAA for 2015 will cleanse next year’s budget is equivalent to transparency.