National Unity Party vice president Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said the Supreme Court ruling on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), unless issued soon, would be rendered moot once Congress approves a budget law that excludes this funding program.

Barzaga, who represents Dasmarinas City in the House of Representatives, explained that congressmen have decided to do without the P25 billion PDAF under the proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2014 and distribute the fund instead among six agencies that would implement projects in legislative districts across the country.

The constitutionality of the PDAF  and the President’s use of the Malampaya Fund have been questioned before the Supreme Court by former senatorial candidates Greco Belgica and Samson Alcantara, and former Boac, Marinduque Mayor Pedrito Nepomuceno.

In turn, the high tribunal issued a temporary restraining order stopping the release of the remaining PDAF and the Malampaya Fund for 2013.

“Unless the Supreme Court resolves the case sooner, this issue will become moot and academic on Jan. 1, when the nation will have a new budget without the PDAF as we know it,” Barzaga said.

Barzaga said that instead of providing lawmakers with PDAF allocations, their proposed hard or infrastructure projects would be listed in detail under the 2014 national budget, eliminating post budget-approval and project identification, a feature of the current system that the public and some SC justices found objectionable during oral arguments set by the high court on the issue.

“We will leave it to the agencies to implement those projects. These agencies should expose lawmakers who will meddle in the project implementation,” he noted.

Meanwhile, soft projects such as scholarships and medical assistance would be within the discretion of the Commission on Higher Education, Department of Health and government hospitals, Barzaga explained.

Solicitor General Francis Jardaleza has informed the Supreme Court that Malacanang and Congress are now instituting reforms in the release and use of the public funds, particularly the PDAF.  “The scuttling of the pork barrel is a collective decision of the political leadership – meaning the President and his congressional allies. The President is involved because he is the proponent of the budget. But it was the House that carried out the decision and abolished the PDAF in approving the budget on second reading two weeks ago,” he said.

The House approved the proposed GAA on second reading minus the PDAF last Sept. 27, 2013.