manilamail/archive/sep2013/13sep10.html POSTSCRIPT/ PhilSTAR/ Sept. 10, 2013/ Tuesday By Federico D. Pascual Jr. Is EDSA about PDAF, Palace pork, or both? FOCUS & FACE: For maximum impact, the mass protest tomorrow on historic EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Ave.) should have at least two things: a Focus and a Face. The People Power Revolt of 1986 gathered enough force to bring down a hated dictatorship because it had both elements in one man. Ferdinand Marcos succeeded in building himself up as the hate object, thereby providing both the face and the focus. Tomorrow, the generic issue is Pork Barrel. But the brand of pork at issue is not that clear to many of those planning to march on EDSA. Will rallyists be protesting congressional pork, or presidential pork, or both? Or something else more vague? Some yellowtards are trying to blur the focus by beating the marching drum not against pork – about which President Aquino is vulnerable -- but against corruption in general. * * * UNFAIR, DANGEROUS: Before marching to EDSA, make up your mind. When you carry a placard, shout a slogan, or join a knot of protesters, what are your focus and target? Are you against legislative pork, or presidential pork, or whatever? (At this point, it is only fair that I declare my stand. If only because of the corruption it has engendered, pork barrel in whatever disguise -- whether Priority Development Assistance Fund or discretionary presidential funds -- must go while we sort out the mess.) To scrap congressional pork (PDAF) while allowing President Noynoy Aquino to continue misusing his mountain of discretionary funds would concentrate power and patronage on one man. That is not only unfair, but also dangerous. Sadly, President Aquino has demonstrated his propensity to use pork to influence or control co-equal branches of government and even supposedly independent constitutional commissions. Budgetary reforms should go all the way up to Malacañang. * * * FACE OF PORK: Whose face is conjured up when you read or hear of pork barrel abuse? The image depends on your exposure to the ongoing propaganda calculated to demonize certain individuals and sway public opinion. From my vantage, the pork barrel faces that come up, from sharp to diminishing focus, are: Janet Lim Napoles, Juan Ponce Enrile, Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada and Noynoy Aquino. This subjective rating may be unfair to them, as it is based mainly on perception and not on incontrovertible evidence of pork misuse and corruption. That has been how the mass disinformation in media has worked on many of us. So when you go to EDSA tomorrow, whose face stares you from the scattering of placards, streamers and tarps denouncing pork barrel? * * * WEB OF CONTROL: In our government setup as it has evolved, the power of the purse is no longer wielded by the House of Representatives but by the President. Using pork billions, including such discretionary funds as his social fund, the President has gained control of other branches of government and removed major obstacles to power consolidation leading to 2016 and beyond. As he dispensed patronage, he has captured the House of Representatives, has clinched virtual control of the Senate and has scared -- by his orchestrated removal of a sitting Chief Justice -- enough members the Supreme Court to be able influence the tribunal. The President has spread his web over the Commission on Elections, now chaired by his lead lawyer in the 2010 polls that elected him and whom he has rewarded with P30 million in so-called intelligence funds to mop up poll irregularities. The Commission on Audit, another constitutional body, has shown by its selective reporting of misuse of pork and other public funds to be a virtual annex of the demolition unit of the Palace. The Ombudsman and the CoA chair, supposedly independent of the Executive, have accepted their assignment as two of the three (majority) members of a presidential inter-agency body instructed to bring up pork barrel charges against the usual suspects. That is conflict of interest. * * * DROPPED LIKE A RAG: We wonder what Enrile, one of Malacañang’s demolition targets, must be thinking as he recalls how the Palace had used him and other senators (as well as a throng of congressmen) to impeach, convict and deliver the head of Chief Justice Renato Corona. The senator may now recall how in 1986 an ailing Marcos was dumped by the White House like a dirty rag after years of being used by the Americans. He could just mutter “I’m so very disappointed,” after US Sen. Richard Lugar told the dictator over the phone to “cut clean”. Enrile, Revilla and Estrada and other lawmakers have been dragged into the pork scandal by the expert use of affidavits of witnesses. While the lawmakers have a lot to explain, they must be presumed innocent despite their pre-trial conviction in media. Meanwhile, Malacañang investigators and propagandists have been silent on the participation of corrupt Executive officials and end-users without whose connivance the pork scam could not have been perpetrated. * * * SELECTIVE TARGETS: The CoA audit report focused on Enrile, Revilla and Estrada, who have been pictured as having connived with allegedly bogus Non-Government Organizations of businesswoman Napoles. The CoA report shows that Enrile is the most audited, with 102 percent(!) of his PDAF audited; Estrada, 80 percent audited; and Revilla 79 percent. The Palace’s Department of Budget and Management submitted the senators’ papers to CoA middle of 2011. In contrast, Aquino allies were treated tenderly. Former Sen. Kiko Pangilinan was audited for just 10 percent of his PDAF; former Sen. Pong Biazon and Sen. Allan Cayetano, 9 percent; senators Ralph Recto and Loren Legarda, 5 percent; Pia Cayetano, 3 percent; and Sonny Trillanes, who collected travel allowances even while in detention, a mere 0.5 percent! * * *
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:27:41 +0000
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