Who is the President Kidding? - Mareng Winnie "What happened between two days ago and yesterday that made him (seemingly) change his tune? My guess is that while his people were totally cognizant of the critical views of the so-called “opinion-makers” or “opinion-shapers,” they realized only on Thursday night that they had grossly underestimated the power and magic of the Internet. It was through the Internet that people who were outraged that their tax money was being diverted to the private pockets of individuals who were sworn to serve them and who were obviously not only acting in collusion with each other, but doing it with in-your-face impunity, found out that they were not alone in their anger. And by Thursday evening, it became glaringly obvious that the idea of a picnic/rally/get-together of these like-minded individuals had spread like wildfire and was being met with enthusiasm. I know that everyone I asked who was ambulatory indicated her intention of going to the Quirino Grandstand on Monday. And it looks like the same phenomenon was taking place in areas outside Metro Manila—e.g., Cebu, Davao, Baguio. The Aquino administration was faced with the classic (from the 1976 movie “Network”): “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more” collective reaction. Their countermove was to (pardon the metaphor mixing) try to head them off at the pass—in this case, to reduce the enthusiasm for, and therefore the attendance at, Monday’s rally.) How? The President announced that “it is time to abolish the PDAF.” Great? We don’t have to rally anymore? He is giving us what we want? Not at all. There’s a sleight of mind going on here. Notice he didn’t say “abolish the pork barrel,” he said “abolish the PDAF”. The hope is that we will equate the two. The PDAF will formally go. But the pork barrel stays. What will change is its presentation. No more lump sums for each legislator. Replacing it will be line items for projects—which is exactly the form that the pork barrel in the United States (which we copied but “improved”) takes. But you can be sure that these items will total P70 million times the number of Congress people plus P200 million times the number of senators. " ... See you Monday at Luneta! Read more: opinion.inquirer.net/59459/sleight-of-mind#ixzz2cqbi4OBJ Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 04:51:35 +0000
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