Escudero said this was
the first time he was able to provide funds under PDAF to help various
municipalities since the previous administration, and promised to farm
out his allocation to other local government units to finance their
projects this year.
“Under the
administration of former President Arroyo, I was an opposition and the
PDAF allotted to me was never released. So as a senator, I cannot give
anything to any of the towns, provinces or districts then. Now that my
budget has been released, what I do is I give funds to every
municipality for the improvement of their public markets,” Escudero
said.
In the spirit of
transparency, Escudero also detailed the allocation of his PDAF, which
was distributed to several regions to finance construction and repair
of school buildings, improvement and rehabilitation of state
universities, concreting and road repair, completion of a
multi-purpose center and rehabilitation of a municipal hall,
improvement of peripheral canals, and construction of river control
projects, among others.
According to Escudero,
each municipality of Region 3 (Central Luzon), Region 4 (Mimaropa), Region 11 (Davao Region) and
Region 9 (Zamboanga
Peninsula)
received P500,000 to improve their public markets.
Central Luzon was
granted the biggest release of funds among the regions, receiving a
total of P43.5 million for various projects in 87 municipalities of
the provinces of Bataan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.
Escudero also gave
Region 4B some P35.5 million for the benefit of all 71 municipalities
of the provinces of Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro,
Palawan and Romblon.
Another P35.5 million
of the senators’ development assistance funds was distributed equally
to 71 municipalities of the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte,
Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay
In Region 11, all 42
municipalities of the provinces of
Compostela
Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental equally
shared P21 million in PDAF.
About P13.5 million
was given to 80 barangays in
Cebu City
for the purchase of eight-seater passenger-type Isuzu multi-cabs, a
project which will be implemented by the Department of the Interior
and Local Government in its Region 7 office. At the same time,
Escudero provided P1 million in financial assistance to the Cebu City
Task Force on Street Children.
Educational
institutions likewise received P19.5 million, among them the
Polytechnic University of the Philippines, P5 million for the
construction, repair, rehabilitation and improvement of its various
buildings; the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City,
P5 million for the completion of a sports and cultural multi-purpose
building; and Tacurong City Pilot Elementary School in Sultan Kudarat,
P5 million for the construction of a cultural and sports center.
He gave P2 million for
the construction of a school building of the Southern Luzon State
University in Catanauan, Quezon; P2 million for the construction of a
school building of the Kolehiyo ng Pantukan in Pantukan, Compostela
Valley; and P500,000 for the improvement of classrooms of the
Philippine National Police Academy in Silang, Cavite.
Other projects that
received a P5-million allotment each were for the construction of
Cabanatuan City-Gen. M. Natividad Road in Nueva Ecija and the construction of the dairy
multi-purpose building in Laoac, Pangasinan.
For the improvement of
roads and canals, Escudero gave P4 million for the construction of the
Laoag-Vintar Road in Ilocos Norte, and P3 million each for the
construction of farm-to-market roads in Barangays San Antonio, San
Jose and San Antonio in Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan; improvement of
peripheral canals in Dagat-dagatan Area in Caloocan City; and the
construction of River Control Project in Barangay Burabud II, Gandara,
Samar.
To complete the Muslim
Youth Multi-Purpose Center in Marawi City, the senator provided P2.5
million, and P2 million each for the construction, repair and
rehabilitation of the Municipal Hall of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo and the
concreting of the main road with canal in Barangay Irisan, Baguio
City.
Another P1 million was
allocated for the construction of the Pampano farm-to-market road in
Mangatarem, Pangsinan, completing the P200 million maximum PDAF
earmarked for the senator.
“My PDAF is
transparent, equally distributed and downloaded to local government
units. We are trying to avoid issues of favoring the region or
province where I belong or allegations of pocketing funds that are
supposed to be for the people,” Escudero said.