By; Tony La Viña My latest piece in Rappler. Read it in its entirety as it proposes a comprehensive response to the pork barrel issue. While corruption is a tragic reality in this country, the revelations about the systematic plunder of government coffers are unprecedented in magnitude and extent. One will simply run out of adjectives, if not expletives, to describe the humongous amount of monies involved. It runs through a very wide gamut of the institutional fabric of our society enveloping several executive departments and agencies, the two chambers of Congress, local government units, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other entities. It represents a breakdown in our procurement, fiscal and auditing systems. I propose three imperatives that we as a society must pursue if this current scandal is to be resolved decisively in favor of good governance. “Never again” must be our goal, and to get to that we must see three things happen: First, the prosecution and conviction of the guilty individuals no matter how high up it goes; Second, the abolition of the PDAF once and for all, slaying the pork barrel beast with finality so it will be never resurrected again; Third, the transformation of governance and political structures in our country so that they would serve the interests of the people, especially the poor, and not that of a few individuals and families. This includes the passage of the Freedom of Information Act, strengthening political parties as against dynasties and traditional politicians, and having clarity on the role of citizen organizations.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:21:14 +0000