I continue to be astonished at how deviously ingenious this government can be in its obsession to keep Congress under its thumb.

On November 19, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the pork barrel system (officially termed “Priority Development Assistance Fund) was unconstitutional, ordered it stopped immediately, and banned any such future pork barrel schemes. Only P10.2 billion of the P24.8 billion allocated for it under the 2013 budget law could be released.