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 Philippinesi

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 extraconstitutionally. 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 tradeoff 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!

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