Who needs the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass a law to abolish pork barrel and other lump sum appropriation? According to former Chief Justice Reynato Puno the electorate can can bypass Congress and directly scrap the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF), commonly known as pork barrel, and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) if five million signatures advocating their abolition can be gathered. “Hindi lang Kongreso ang may karapatang magpanukala ng batas. Ang taumbayan mismo ay may karapatan na magpanukala ng batas kung sa palagay nila ang ating Kongreso ay hindi ginagawa ang kanilang katungkulan,” Puno said in a television report aired on GMA 7’s “24 Oras” on Tuesday. “You cannot expect them [lawmakers] to pass legislation that will be contrary to their selfish interest,” he noted, adding, “Nawala na ‘yung moral authority nila to enact this kind of law.” Republic Act No. 6735, says the citizenry has the power to directly propose, enact or approve a law provided: – At least 10 percent of Filipino voters signed the petition. There are about 52 million voters in the country, so the petition needs to be signed by at least 5.2 million people. – At least three percent in all the legislative districts signed up the petition The Commission on Election, then, will verify the signatures in the petition and, eventually, set the election date for the Filipino voters to choose to abolish pork barrel or not. During the Ramos and Arroyo administrations, there were attempts to use a Read More …