Rusting steel bars jut out of an unfinished bridge at Sitio Sto. Ni帽o in Barangay Putik, Zamboanga City, which reportedly received fresh funding last year but remains unfinished to this day. JULIE S. ALIPALA / INQUIRER MINDANAO
ERICO Basilio Fabian, former representative of Zamboanga City鈥檚 second district, hands out paper bags to supporters during a rally held for his campaign as candidate for mayor of Zamboanga City. He lost. JULIE S. ALIPALA/INQUIRER MINDANAO
ZAMBOANGA CITY鈥� Golfers at a government-run course here can now practice their swing more often, courtesy of a driving range built using public funds released through the pork barrel of former Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian (second district, Zamboanga City).
Part of Fabian鈥檚 pork financed the driving range at the golf course being maintained by the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) in Barangay (village) Calarian, which turned out to be not a part of Fabian鈥檚 district.
Tieza is formerly Philippine Tourism Authority and is now headed by Mark Lapid, former Pampanga governor and son of Sen. Lito Lapid, who has also been tagged in the pork barrel controversy.
Golfers happy
Romeo Urian, Tieza manager, said the project in Barangay Calarian, which is in the first, not the second, congressional district, benefited golfers and guests of the golf course.
Urian defended the release of P2 million in public funds through Fabian鈥檚 pork, saying the driving range helped bring in more players at the golf course and promoted tourism in the city. Fabian, who couldn鈥檛 run for a fourth term as congressman so he ran but lost for mayor of this city, declined to comment on the golf project and left the explaining to Urian.
Urian said officials of Calarian village were aware of the project and were the ones who requested for the driving range.
鈥淭he request for funding for the driving range was coursed through the barangay and they forwarded it to Fabian,鈥� he said.
Courts, toilets
THIS BRIDGE under construction in Sitio Sto. Ni帽o, Barangay (village) Putik, in Zamboanga City received funding from the pork barrel of ex-congressman Erico Basilio Fabian. Steel bars jut out of the unfinished bridge, which had been abandoned four years after construction started. JULIE ALIPALA/INQUIRER MINDANAO
Merham Acas, former district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Zamboanga City, said Fabian鈥檚 pork was also spent in 2012 on covered courts and toilets worth P6.5 million.
In a report by the Department of Budget and Management, Fabian鈥檚 projects were simply identified as 鈥渕ultipurpose buildings.鈥�
Acas said it was Fabian who specified what projects should be funded by his pork, officially known as Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF.
Multipurpose
鈥淲e (DPWH) just can鈥檛 put up any project. This has to be identified and recommended by Representative Fabian,鈥� Acas said.
He admitted that among the projects identified by Fabian and funded by his pork was 鈥渁 multipurpose building鈥� in Barangay Calarian in 2012.
Calarian is, however, in the first congressional district, then represented by Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, now the city mayor.
Acas said he could not explain why Fabian poured projects into an area outside his legislative district. 鈥淗e might be able to explain it,鈥� he said. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao