THE PROVINCE OF PANGASINAN will be seeing familiar faces in the 16th Congress.
Five of Pangasinan’s six district representatives in the 15th Congress were re-elected for another term in the 2013 midterm elections: Jesus “Boying” Celeste (first district), Leopoldo Bataoil (second district), Ma. Georgina de Venecia (fourth district), Kimi Cojuangco (fifth district), and Marlyn Primicias-Agabas (sixth district).
Of the five, several are just continuing where their relatives have left off: De Venecia is the wife of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia, while Cojuangco is the wife of former Rep. Mark Cojuangco, son of former Marcos associate Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco.
The only Pangasinan district representative who is not a reelectionist is really just stepping back in order to let the original district representative (her mother) take her seat. Ma. Rachel Arenas (third district) is being replaced by her mother Rosemary ‘Baby’ Arenas.
Both Agabas and the older Arenas ran unopposed.
With almost the same people representing the province for the 16th Congress, statistics is all a matter of change or consistency, improvement or injury. This data was culled from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s (PCIJ) MoneyPolitics online database, a citizen’s resource, research, and analysis tool on elections, public funds, and governance in the Philippines.
Among the five reelectionists, more than half a billion pesos work of Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) have already been released for the province from June 2010 to June 2012. However, the effect of the P631,156,000 in Pangasinan PDAFs released since 2010 are still to be felt on the living and working conditions of the Pangasinenses.
Latest records show that in 2009, Pangasinan has an annual per capita poverty threshold (or minimum amount necessary for survival) of P17,731 and a poverty incidence rate (or percentage of people living below the poverty line) of 25.0, a little lower than the country’s average which is 26.5.
Pangasinan’s poverty incidence rate, however, is significantly higher than that of its neighboring provinces such as Benguet (5.80), Nueva Vizcaya (8.70), Tarlac (19.8), Ilocos Sur (17.0), and Zambales (18.3) although it remains lower than Nueva Ecija (31.1) and La Union (30.6).
The PDAF is a yearly lump-sum fund allocated for the pet projects of legislators.
In his first term as congressman, Bataoil was allowed to identify projects worth P149 million or about 22.2% of the province’s total pork from June 2010 to June 2012. He was followed by Celeste with P125 million or 19.8%.
Rachel Arenas had the lowest percentage: 7.91% or a total pork of only P50 million during her second term in 2010.
Do you want to know more about your government officials, how much they are worth, how much they spend of your taxpayers’ money, and where they spend it on? Or do you simply want to know how much they spend in order to win their elective positions? Visit the PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics database here and look up your favorite politician!