INQUIRER Global Nation

Iloilo city, Philippines - Militant party-list groups have been relying on donations to fund their projects after the administration allegedly froze their pork barrel funds for supporting the failed impeachment moves against President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo said the representatives of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela did not receive their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) since 2005 due to stonewalling from the administration.

“Not a single centavo has been released to us,” Ocampo told the Inquirer on the sidelines on a forum on human rights violations here Friday.

He said each of the six party-list representatives in the 13th Congress and the five representatives in the 14th Congress have yet to receive the P70 million in annual PDAF.

Ocampo alleged that the funds have been withheld after they supported the impeachment complaints in 2005 and 2006 against the President.

The militant party-list groups also drew the ire of the administration after they threw their support to ousted house speaker Jose de Venecia against the administration-supported bid for the House leadership by Davao Representative Prospero Nograles, he added.

Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela have asked the help of senators to help fund their projects to compensate for the lack of funding, according to Ocampo.

But even without their PDAF, Ocampo last Friday handed out relief goods to depressed communities in Iloilo City especially those severely affected by Typhoon Frank on June 21.

The typhoon triggered the worst flooding experienced in Western Visayas and left hundreds dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Ocampo led the relief-giving operations about 3,000 residents in the villages of Tabuc Suba, Sinikway and Rizal.

“This is one way of reaching out to our people who are in desperate need for economic relief, not only because they were badly hit by Typhoon Frank. The economic difficulty we are facing is already too burdensome for our people, especially those in urban poor communities,” said Bayan Muna regional coordinator Hope Hervilla.

The relief packs amounting to a total of P2.7 million consisted of rice, fried fish, monggo (mung bean), cooking oil, sugar, blanket, mosquito net, water container, and kitchen utensils. /Inquirer