The FLOODGATES TO CORRUPTION By Rod Kapunan | Posted on Aug. 24, 2013 at 12:01am Up to now, our delirious lawmakers are debating on whether or not to abolish the Priority Development Assistance Fund. President Noynoy Aquino already set his foot not to remove the trough full of pork barrel funds from our gorging politicians. [On August 23, President Aquino said he would abolish the PDAF. - Ed] His comparison of the pork barrel to a car that if driven by a fool is dangerous to the pedestrians is off-tangent. The issue is not how some of our legislators were able to divert them in whole or in part, but on whether it is morally right for them. This is asked because it is this government that coined the slogan, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” To make sure it means business, it came out with a roadmap dubbed as “Tuwid na daan.” Yes, pork barrel is not illegal, but definitely it is immoral. Its immorality is not in the after-the-fact how the funds were diverted, but on the indubitable truth that our legislators should be doing their homework enacting sensible laws to promote the welfare of our people, not in acting as executive officials implementing projects. Moreover, even if there is no prohibition in the Constitution, neither is there a provision giving them a green light to do things outside the scope on what they are supposed to do. If some skunk legislators would argue that pork barrel is allowed in the US, then why should it be prohibited here? Not to be cynical about it, what is made as a practice in the US does not necessarily gain for it the imprimatur that it is perfectly moral or even legal here. The US system is as equally riddled with corruption, not to say it would not have ended up as the biggest debtor in the world today if what it has been doing is correct. Moreover, even if we take it that all the members of Congress have now been exorcised to wisely spend their pork barrel, the motive behind its restoration by Corazon Aquino, and practiced by all succeeding Presidents, was to ensure that all the members of Congress toe the line with regard to whoever is in Malacañang. It is a form of corruption because the original argument, which is to ensure that provinces and districts that have low revenue income, are given their fair share of the development fund, is now out of the question. It is the President who determines who should be given their allocation, and sometimes the amount. Whether used wholly or surreptitiously deducted say of 10 to 30 percent of the amount to sustain the system of political patronage, their reelection, and to perpetuate their clan’s political dynasty, that would not make any difference. What remains pivotal is that the President is practically bribing the members of Congress. While Congress appropriates pro forma the amount to assert its “independence,” the final say is still on the President to decide who should be entitled. The decision to restore the pork barrel by former President Cory Aquino opened floodgates to massive corruption. It was a financial disaster because it did not end up with each senator receiving an average of P200 million and P70 million for each congressman. Rather, it became a down-the-line partitioning of the carcass. Provincial boards, city councils, municipal councils, and mind you, even the barangay councils now receive their respective pork barrel, all in the name of development. If we are appalled at the amount received by members of Congress, then one should know that in Quezon City, each councilor receives P44 million as his pork barrel, and there are six councilors in every district as against one congressman. So, if Congress allocates P70 million for him, the city allocates a total of P264 million pork barrel for the six councilors. Lately, former National Treasurer Leonor Briones discovered a nauseating variation of the pork barrel. While originally it was the President that played the role of Santa Claus to control Congress, now Santa Claus has learned to accommodate himself like counting “one for you and ten for me.” According to Briones, on top of the itemized expenditures in the national budget, the Office of the President has set aside a hefty lump sum of P1 trillion at his disposal. Thus, if 10 percent of his P1 trillion is dissipated by corruption, that would mean losing a staggering amount of P10 billion. Indeed, one might say things have turned “Tuwad na daan.” Maybe Noynoy got the idea from Speaker Sonny Belmonte who served as Mayor of Quezon City. Aside from the itemized budgetary expenditures, the Mayor allocated for his office an annual whooping budget of more than P3 billion, an amount not even the Vice President could squeeze from Congress. Finally, if there is anybody we can blame for this unprecedented P10.5 billion pork barrel scam, we can also point to Mrs. Aquino for allowing non-governmental organizations to received funds from the government. The 1987 Constitution officially gave recognition to NGOs, even empowering them to carry out their holier-than-thou advocacy and undertakings without the thought that many of them would morph to become big-time syndicates engaged in the systematic looting of government funds. Section 23, Article II of the Constitution clearly encourages non-government, community-based, or sectoral organizations (to organize) to promote the welfare of the nation. Not satisfied, NGOs were given additional powers in Sections 15 and 16, Article XIII of the Constitution. If they were given the license to operate and assurance of independence, logically NGOs should have their own private funds to carry to maintain that status. That should have served as the demarcating line between the government and the NGOs, meaning that no government funds, coming the PDAF of politicians or otherwise, should be allocated to them. It was a contradiction and downright idiotic for the yellow government to assure NGOs their independence while funding their operations. It is that loophole that has been shrewdly exploited by farsighted people like Janet Lim Napoles to operationalize the system of diverting the pork barrel funds.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 07:52:53 +0000
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