Pork Barrel Watch or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Watch

It is common knowledge that the legislators’ pork barrel funds consumes a substantial amount of taxpayer’s money, amounting to 20 billion Pesos annually. This is often more than the annual budget of the Department of Agriculture and other major government agencies.

The main bulk of what is often referred to as “pork barrel funds” are formally called the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Congressional Allocation (CA). Legislators themselves identify projects that are to be funded by the PDAF and CA, based on a pre-approved list or menu of project options. However, the public knows little about how these funds are being spent. As a response, the CODE NGO and the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) initiated the Pork Barrel Watch or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Watch. The project monitors how the PDAF and CA of the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate were being utilized. Through this project, a policy agenda will be formulated to make sure that PDAF and CA are used responsively and effectively.