The Cebu City Council will invite former congressman Tomas Osmeña to shed light on projects funded by his pork barrel in a public hearing scheduled on November 5.
This developed after Osmeña submitted to the council a list of projects worth P300 million undertaken during his term as south district representative from 2010 to 2013.
The list shows about P226.5 million worth of projects were funded from his share of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and other national government sources while the remaining P73.5 million was funded from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
The council has also invited the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the hearing.
“I hope the two incumbent congressmen (Rep.. Raul del Mar for then north district and Rodrigo Abellanosa of the south district) will follow the example of former congressman Osmeña for transparency,” Councilor Gerardo Carillo said.
Allocation
Osmeña earlier said he he implemented more projects during his three-year term as congressman but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only posted the completed projects on their website.
He still has ongoing projects like the concreting of the 2.5 kilometer stretch of S. Osmeña Road in the North Reclamatio Area worth P289 million and others that were funded but have yet to be built like the proposed U-Turn slots under the viaducts of the Cebu South Coastal Road in Cebu and Talisay cities side.
Osmeña said the allocation for these projects is way beyond the P70 million PDAF that he got each year as district congressman, “because I know how to source money.”
Most of the completed projects were for drainage and flood control system rehabilitation in the barangays. Osmeña said he benefited from P124 million worth of projects from DAP, the only Cebuano legislator to get this share.
“I didn’t know which funding came from DAP (until I was furnished the DBM listing). All I know is the funds came from the national government,” he said.
Osmeña’s DAP share included a P10 million outlay for road concreting in Alaska in barangay Mambaling but the money was realigned after barangay officials opposed the projects.
The P10 million was re aligned for drainage improvement in barangays Guadalupe, Inayawan and Kalunasan and construction of a multi purpose hall in Kalunasan.