Let me begin this post with an apology to my readers.
I’m sorry I haven’t updated this blog. I’ve been in a two
and a half month hiatus due to the start of the school year and a chronic case
of writer’s block. Despite the many events in our country worthy of social
commentary (such as the Gilas Pilipinas qualification in the FIBA World Cup,
the suggestion to replace our country’s name to Filipinas, or the falling out
between the Philippines and Taiwan over the shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman)
and forcibly squeezing my brain for any ounce of creative expression, I wasn’t
able to produce anything substantial.
Until now.
I don’t know; but I guess the combined force of Typhoon
Maring and Habagat was enough to wash away this writer’s block. After days of
subsequent class suspensions and getting bored checking Economics examinations
at home, I finally had the energy and inkling to write—an inkling brought about
by my lingering irritation to Janet Lim-Napoles, the brains behind the
P10-billion pork barrel scandal which involves several of our legislators in
both houses of Congress as well as some executive officials in the Aquino
Administration.
The scandal exposes the snarly roots of the corrupt system
of providing legislators with government money to “help” their so-called “constituents”.
While it is worth noting that not all legislators misused their Priority
Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), it is also worth noting that some
legislators have proven that they can serve without it. Hence, the very nature
and purpose of the fund is now in question and the public is so enraged that is
it willing to go to great lengths to question it. On Monday, August 26, 2013, a nationwide rally calling for the abolition of the pork barrel system is about to boil.
Soon, word-of-mouth of this event came to me via Facebook
and twice I’ve been asked by college friends if I am going or not. I initially
declined, dubious of what the event would achieve with a mere picnic wherein
people will wear white and post passive aggressive tweets/memes/status updates
about their rage against pork barrel system and corruption in this country. If
we are trying to abolish a corrupt system which started out as a constitutional
provision, then we should call for a legislative action to remove it once and
for all. Hence, what I wanted initially instead was for the concerned public to
amass around both Houses of Congress to call for the passage of a law
abolishing the PDAF and pressure our solons into passing them with lightning
speed.
However, upon doing additional research on the issue, I
realized that there is no need to pass a law that would get rid of the pork
barrel system for good.
In a letter to the Philippine Daily Inquirer six months
before the PDAF mess exploded, estemmed lawyer and former COA commissioner Bartolome
Fernandez Jr. lamented that to end the pork barrel system, the President could
simply stop including it in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“The GAA is prepared by Malacañang every year. This is clear from Section 22, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution: “The President shall submit to the Congress within thirty days from the opening of every regular session, as the basis of the general appropriations bill, a budget of expenditures and sources of financing, including receipts from existing and proposed revenue measures.” As thus constitutionally mandated, the budget to be submitted by the President to Congress becomes the basis for the preparation by Congress of the annual GAA. From the constitutional standpoint, the preparation of the budget is a presidential duty and responsibility.
Clearly, the PDAF emanates from the President himself. In a real sense, the President, not Congress, is the initiator and creator of the fund. Now, if he is minded to do away altogether with this fund, the President can always desist from including it in his proposed GAA. By the simple expedient of deleting, omitting or leaving out any such outlay from the proposed GAA, the President can “abolish” the pork barrel system. As simple as that.”
Upon reading
this letter, it became
clear to me what the Million People March symbolizes: it calls upon the only person who can
decide on this issue—the President—to exercise the necessary political will to
stop the allocation of taxpayers’ money into a fund which these solons can only
manipulate and reek profit from. Indeed, President Aquino’s election promises
are being put to the test. He will have to bet against his party’s future in
2016 if he is to heed the people’s call to action.
But as I told
a college friend a day ago, this rally is just a start. In fact, we Filipinos
have this penchant for starting something and yet failing to create a
satisfactory conclusion. The people of 1986 once said that it was the start of
something new and yet it failed to bring about a massive change in the system
of partisan politics in this country. It even solidified and institutionalized
it because of the very flaws in the Constitution and the faltered political
will of our leaders.
Thus, closing
the valve on corruption will not end with the abolition of the pork barrel
scheme. The snarly roots of corruption involve not only legislators but also
every fabric of our executive and judicial system. There should be a
means of ensuring accountability of public officials, not just in the national
level, but down to smallest unit of local governance.
If we are only going to rely on Congress, the Ombudman, and
the Sandiganbayan to prosecute government officials involved in such
wrongdoing, justice will always be delayed and thus denied to its victims. If
the power to impeach is given not just to Congress but also to provincial,
municipal, and even barangay legislative councils, then graft and corruption
cases need not pile up in the file cabinets of the Ombudsman and the
Sandiganbayan. For the first time, we could see a governor, mayor, or barangay
captain impeached by members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Bayan, and
Barangay. By empowering the localities, we make them responsible for the local
taxes they are paying and we’re making
their local executives even more accountable in using these taxes wisely.
So yes, I am going to the Million People March on Monday. I'd like to discuss and polish these ideas with you once we meet. I am joining this mass action even though I am fearful that it might suffer
the same fate as other mass actions before. I am joining it because it is a
chance for every Juan (including me) to put their two cents about this issue on
the table. If every Juan’s two cents stacked on top of each other, it would
create a tower powerful enough collapse on this vicious web of corruption,
eradicating it for all time.
I am hoping to see and be with you all there. TSS
Further
Reading:
PNoy can abolish the pork barrel all by himself
Joker still Scrooge of Congress
Joker Arroyo: Congress Scrooge for 20 Years
All images created by the author.
