By Louie Logarta
The Daily Tribune
The Daily Tribune
Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao
Malacañang had silently ordered the release last month of some P140 million in pork barrel funds for the province of Dinagat Islands to the appointed caretaker Akbayan party-list Rep. Kaka Bag-ao.
Bag-ao, said to be a native of the island province, was reportedly named to the post by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte (LP, Quezon City) in lieu of fugitive Rep. Ruben Ecleo whose name was removed from the roster of congressmen after he was convicted last year of killing his wife Alona in 2002, and also after the Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict handed down by the Sandiganbayan against him in connection with irregularities in several infrastructure projects in the town of San Jose, Surigao del Norte where he was mayor from 1991 to 1994.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officials brushed off criticisms from the opposition that this was the “height of patronage politics” in that Bag-ao, who is acknowledged Palace favorite by virtue of her being a close friend of presidential political adviser and Akbayan president Ronald Llamas, is running for the congressional seat vacated by Ecleo in the coming May polls.
DBM chief Butch Abad explained that the monies merely represented two years’ worth of priority development assistance funds (PDAF) meant for the benefit of the people of Dinagat Islands which Ecleo failed to collect because he was saddled with numerous legal woes.
I feel constrained to raise the issue because there is one other congressional district, this one’s closer to imperial Manila, which for the past two years has been living in a state of limbo as far as the PDAF is concerned.
This is the 1st legislative district — composed of Olongapo City and the towns of Subic, Castillejos and San Marcelino with an estimated population of 380,000 — which is represented in the lower house by oppositionist Mitos Magsaysay.
Up to now, from what I understand, Rep. Magsaysay’s district is the only one that still has to receive from Malacañang even a single centavo of the P140 million that it is entitled to under the General Appropriations Act, and, as grapevine sources claim, the situation will persist until she finishes her third and final term this June 30.
Such is the hatred for her.
Matthew 22:21 makes mention of the oft-quoted passage: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.”
This is with reference to the answer supposedly put forth by Jesus to a question posed by one of a crowd who were following him about in Judea as he was preaching the Word of God. Zealots sent out by the Pharisees and Herodians were trying to paint Jesus into a corner regarding the explosive issue as to whether the Jews should pay taxes or not to Rome. Had he given what they perceived as the wrong answer, they would have pounced on him and promptly turned him over for punishment to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Instead they were “marveled” by his reply to the question. A “yes” according to Wikipedia would have left Jesus open to the accusation that he was in opposition to Jewish resistance to the Roman occupation, while a “no” would have given those present an opportunity to report him to the Roman authorities as someone who was trying to incite a revolt.
It is in this regard that I would like to credit my former newspaper colleague Ramon Tulfo for his courage in exposing to the public the identities of certain powerful politicians whom he alleged are behind all the “illegal logging” (and illegal mining?) which wrought such wanton destruction and misery on the poor people living in Davao Oriental and the Compostela Valley (ComVal), ironically just days before Christmas, when typhoon “Pablo” came visiting.
And to hell with the libel cases that they are expected to soon file, claiming he may have damaged their reputations, injured their good names and caused them to suffer interminable anguish and ridicule after their names were outted.
Tulfo, who hails from Mindanao, said these politicians are even being accused by their own constituents of conducting illegal mining activities in the mountains of Baganga and Cateel, the two hardest-hit municipalities in the ComVal region, responsible for the huge cut logs that cascaded down the slopes on rampaging floodwaters and literally bulldozed everything that stood in their way, in the process claiming an obscene number of innocent lives and obliterating the local economy.
Tulfo, who hails from Mindanao, said these politicians are even being accused by their own constituents of conducting illegal mining activities in the mountains of Baganga and Cateel, the two hardest-hit municipalities in the ComVal region, responsible for the huge cut logs that cascaded down the slopes on rampaging floodwaters and literally bulldozed everything that stood in their way, in the process claiming an obscene number of innocent lives and obliterating the local economy.
Unfortunately, these serious allegations may have fallen on deaf ears. To date, Malacañang hasn’t lifted a finger to look into the accusations against the concerned Davao politicians. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who had acted with lightning speed on the allegations of Bugallon, Mayor Rodrigo Orduna that Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino was into the jueteng game, is also making out like the Three Monkeys (as in “hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil”).
Why, is because they are partial to the Aquino administration?
In any case, as Tulfo says, this is totally befuddling because the charges against the Davao politicians he had named aren’t politically-inspired; while those of Gov. Espino, who is in the opposition, obviously are. Just like the case of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia?
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RELATED STORY:
Speaker defends appointment of Akbayan Rep. Bag-ao as Dinagat caretaker
By Philippine News Agency and InterAksyon.com
MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has defended the appointment of Akbayan party-list Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao as caretaker of Dinagat Island.
The government-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported on Wedsnesday that Belmonte said in a text message that Bag-ao — even though a party-list representative — is from Dinagat Island.
“She’s (Bag-ao) a sitting congresswoman and she is from there (Dinagat Island), and knowledgeable about the province,” PNA quoted Belmonte as saying.
In October, Bag-ao was quoted in a news report as saying that she would run as Dinagat Island representative.
The report said that according to Bag-ao, she decided to seek a post in Dinagat after she was replaced by Ibarra Gutierrez as Akbayan nominee for the 2013 elections. Ibarra is former undersecretary for political affairs of the Aquino administration.
Malacanang on Wednesday said Bag-ao’s appointment was entirely a legislative prerogative.
Dinagat Island had been represented by Rep. Ruben Ocleo until his conviction in a graft case.
The Sandiganbayan First Division had denied Ecleo’s appeal to suspend the warrant of arrest against him.
His conviction was final and executory, which was why the court was duty-bound to execute the ruling and order his arrest, according to Sandiganbayan. The former Dinagat Island solon is now a fugitive.
Lacierda said that due to the absence of a representative of Dinagat Island, the province has been deprived of representation and the benefits of national government.
“So for the past number of years, they (Dinagat residents) have been deprived of the IRA (internal revenue allotment) from the national government,” he said.
Lacierda said perhaps that’s the reason why after the Sandiganbayan rendered its decision on Dinagat final and executory, “the Speaker chose to appoint someone to be the caretaker.”
It was Surigao del Norte Reps. Francisco Matugas and Guillermo Romarate Jr. who endorsed Bag-ao to the Speaker as the province’s caretaker.
Meanwhile, Bag-ao, in a text message to the Philippines News Agency, said she was saddened that some sectors would see politics behind her appointment as caretaker of the province.
“Since my appointment as caretaker, we have been holding consultations. We have been to 80 of the 100 barangays of Dinagat. We saw poverty, underdevelopment and government neglect,” she noted.
“It is sad that now that the first batch of the projects are being delivered, people faraway from Dinagat only see the coming election,” she added.
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