‘Pang-intriga’: Palace dismisses Erice’s ‘presidential pork barrel’ tag

MANILA —  Malacañang on Wednesday pushed back at Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice for calling the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) a “presidential pork barrel” as it dismissed the label as “intrigue”.

This comes in the wake of the lawmaker’s reported plan to challenge before the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the LGSF once President Ferdinand Marcos signs the 2027 national budget into law.

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Erice has the right to go to court but said the congressman should have basis for whatever he will file.

“[K]ung mabibigyan lamang siya or aaralin po niya ang proseso kung papaano nairi-release ang LGSF sa mga LGUs, malamang ay maliwanagan po siya,” Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a briefing Wednesday, September 23.

(If he can be given a copy or if he studies the process of how the LGSF is released to LGUs, he might be enlightened.)

Castro maintained that the fund is not discretionary, arguing that even Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo, the former vice president, attested to how she applied for a  repair budget of the Jesse Robredo Coliseum.

Robredo made the clarification on the P500-million national funding after Erice questioned the grant during House budget deliberations and suggested political motivations.

Castro said Robredo has provided receipts of the transactions “that were not in doubt and had no aliases on them.”

She said she believes Robredo, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s rival in the 2016 and 2022 polls, is credible to tell the people how the fund helps local governments.

The Palace official also argued that the Supreme Court had already upheld the constitutionality of the LGSF in Belgica v. Executive Secretary in 2019.

The SC ruled in the case that the LGSF provision of the 2014 General Appropriations Act is constitutional as it provides “sufficient standards which set the limits of the Executive’s authority to disburse the LGSF, determines the legislative policy behind the fund, and identifies the conditions under which the fund may be utilized.”

Asked why Erice called the fund ‘presidential pork barrel’, Castro replied, “Pang-intriga (To cause intrigue)”.

Last month, economist Jan Carlo Punongbayan flagged the P58.5-billion allocation for the LGSF in the proposed 2027 national budget, saying the fund could be a source for discretionary spending ahead of the 2028 national elections.