THREE of the six congressional representatives of Pangasinan added their voices to the growing public support for President Benigno Aquino III’s decision to scrap the pork barrel, formally known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Third District Rep. Rosemarie “Baby” Arenas said she agrees with the President’s move for drastic and massive reforms in the system to prevent further abuse or misuse of government resources.

“The President is the most trusted leader in the country and I have absolute faith that the direction he is steering this government is towards unprecedented transparency and accountability,” Arenas said.

Fifth District Rep. Kimi Cojuangco echoed the same sentiment saying, “The way I understood the President’s statement is the releases of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as it was will be no longer (be).”

“This is a welcome development because it is unfair to legislators who spend the people’s money for and in full for their constituents,” Cojuangco said.

“It disgusts me to see how some unscrupulous individuals have been getting away with looting taxpayer’s money,” she added.

For his part, 2nd District Rep. Leopolodo Bataoil said he fully supports the President’s pronouncement on the PDAF issues.

Bataoil, in an earlier interview, said he has no problem with losing his pork fund, pointing out that congressional representatives are in fact supposed to be focusing on legislation.

Nonetheless, he said the same amount of fund should benefit the districts in terms of projects identified by the implementing agencies with utmost transparency in all levels of government transactions.

“The reforms and the mechanisms of implementation must be strictly observed in accordance with the new guidelines,” Bataoil said.–Eva Visperas

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