In 2016, the Department of Budget and Management published a paper entitled “The end of pork as we know it.” The pork the DBM was referring to was not lechon, but bacon which enterprising officials sought to bring home.

Scandals and consequent protests against pork barrel ultimately led to the Supreme Court striking down the Priority Development Assistance Fund (congressional pork) as well as schemes under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (presidential pork) as unconstitutional. The court handed down the rulings in 2013 and 2014.

I mention these because these are very useful to finding a way forward towards resolving the flood control corruption issue. Both the DBM paper, and the court decisions, lay down the long history of pork barrel in particular and the corruption of the national budgets in general.

I believe we are in trouble because the main political protagonists gloss over this history, with the most popular competing narratives limited only to politicians and contractors identified with the previous and current administrations. It is as if Philippine history ended or only began in 2016 or 2022. The super-shortened and over-simplified timeline depends on the traditional political camp pitching the narrative.

The court decisions of 2013 and 2014 actually gifted us not just the outlawing of congressional and presidential pork barrel.

Cited in the DBM paper, the 2013 ruling specifically presented to us the history of pork barrel from its inception under the American colonial rule, and its reincarnations through the years from the time of the Public Works Act of 1922, to the Support for Local Development Projects of 1982, to Mindanao and Visayas Development Funds in 1989, to Countrywide Development Fund in 1990, to Food Security Program Fund/Rural/Urban Development Infrastructure Fund/Lingap Para sa Mahirap in 1999, and to PDAF in 2000. The DAP started in 2011.

In 1982, pork barrel allotments were at P500,000 per assemblyman. By 1992, the figure has risen to to P12.5 million per congressman, and P18.5 million per senator.

In 2010 until PDAF was struck down, every House member got allotments of P70 million, while every senator for P200 million.

These ancient figures seem like loose change compared to the amounts of congressional insertions and unprogrammed funds nowadays, which are in billions.

We also have to mention here the billions in confidential and intelligence funds, mostly discretionary in nature, that have been inserted in the national budget not just for the president, but for such officials such as the vice president. Certain local governments have also budgeted confidential funds for their local executives. This is not unique to the current administration.

Countless billions have been lost or stolen. It is not farfetched that we have been cooked in our own lard, with plundered public funds most probably going to keeping traditional politicians and political dynasties in power, whether we vote for them or not. We cannot begin to imagine the number of classrooms and hospitals we could have built, and the infrastructure we could have constructed, had there been no corruption of public funds.

The trouble with the traditional politicians’ narratives nowadays is that they make it appear that they are clean, never used pork barrel, or never corrupted public funds. Only their opponents do -- or did. Or that the problem only started recently.

The anti-corruption protest movement would be more potent and sharper if we would free and untangle ourselves from the serious limitations and self-serving ends of traditional politicians and their narratives. This could be done by studying, presenting, and promoting the history of pork barrel and corruption, and seeking accountability from all public officials who have been involved in them through the years.

I totally disagree that we should be limited to merely choosing who will continue to steal from us, who steals more, who steals less. To me, this seems to be the choices put forward by the traditional politicians as well as those pushing for a junta. I’m quite certain many feel the same. Thus, the cynicism.