By Herbie Gomez
REPS. Vicente Belmonte Jr. of Iligan, Pedro Romualdo of Camiguin and Peter Unabia Sr. of Misamis Oriental topped the list of congressmen from northern Mindanao who received the biggest pork barrel funds since 2010.
This was shown in the budget department’s list of congressmen with their corresponding Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) made public in a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).
The Department of Budget and Management’s list showed that the government released a total of P156.7-million PDAF to Belmonte as of June 8 this year.
Reps. Romualdo, reputedly Camiguin’s political kingpin, and Unabia, who is serving his first office term in the Lower House, received a P140-million PDAF each since 2010.
Another new congressman, Rep. Emmanuel Jesus Paras of the 1st District of Bukidnon, followed with a PDAF amounting to P139.8 million.
Rep. Jose Ma. Zubiri III of the 3rd District of Bukidnon received a P139.415-million PDAF.
With Rep. Florencio Flores of Bukidnon’s 2nd District also receiving his share, Bukidnon, with PDAFs amounting to some P411.215 million, topped the list of northern Mindanao provinces that received the biggest pork barrel funds.
Flores, however, ranked 9th in the list of Region 10 congressmen who received the PDAFs.
Tailing Zubiri behind is Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of the 2nd District of Cagayan de Oro whose PDAF amounted to some P137.2 million.
Rep. Jorge Almonte of Misamis Occidental’s 1st District ranked 7th with his P134.890-million PDAF.
Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Fatima Aliah Dimaporo ranked 8th with a PDAF amounting to P134.120 million.
She was followed by Rep. Flores of Bukidnon with a P132-million PDAF.
The pork-barrel share of the representative of Cagayan de Oro’s 1st District, Jose Benjamin Benaldo, reached P129.850 million.
Benaldo was followed by Rep. Imelda Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte’s 1st District who received a P119.480-million PDAF.
Rep. Vincente Yevgeny Emano of the 2nd District of Misamis Oriental received a pork-barrel share of P105.375 million, a far cry from what was released for the 1st District of the province.
Misamis Occidental Rep. Loreto Leo Ocampos of Misamis Occidental’s 2nd District also paled in comparison to Rep. Almonte, his counterpart in the 1st District. Ocampos brought back to his district a PDAF amounting to P105 million.
Two party-list congressmen from Region 10, Rep. Isidro Lico of Ating Koop and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. of Abante Mindanao, received PDAFs amounting to P110 million and P94 million, respectively.
