By Emil Jurado
Senator Miriam Santiago, who always has something to say about anything, has filed a resolution to gradually abolish the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund or what is more commonly known as pork barrel. By 2016, congressmen and senators will not be getting anything anymore.
This is laudable. The problem, however, is that the abolition of pork barrel has split congressmen and senators so much. Proposals to conduct a probe into what really happens when lawmakers use their PDAF are getting laughable. They would just be investigating themselves!
It’s not funny, though, because it’s the people’s money we are talking about. There seems to be no end to this monumental rip-off.
I still believe that pork barrel can be abolished if President Aquino had the will to do it. The question is, does he? I don’t think so, because that would be political suicide on his part.
The pork barrel system is a way of spreading the largesse to the supporters and allies of the President. Note how many lawmakers, allies of the previous administration, have jumped over to the Aquino bandwagon—like ants swarming towards a pot of sugar!
* * *
I saw the hundreds, if not thousands, of people gathering in Commission on Elections offices nationwide trying to beat the July 31 deadline for registration. The barangay and youth council polls will take place this October.
I asked myself, are those people really that civic-minded, or is there something in store for them?
I got some answers when I was told that most of them were bussed to the many Comelec offices by barangay and youth council candidates, getting P500 to P1,000 per head—with meals at that! Many were from the squatter colonies. These were the captive voters of those candidates.
No wonder the Comelec did not want to listen to their clamor for postponement of the registration deadline. The commissioners knew what was happening, and it would be perpetuating an anomaly if all these captive and command voters would be registered.
I must give it to the geniuses aiming to rule the barangays and youth councils for always looking for ways and means to win elections. Corruption indeed begins here.
* * *
It would be a big mistake on the part of President Aquino to belittle or ignore the noises from the Misuari-led Moro National Liberation Front.
Take note that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a breakaway group from the MNLF. This means that the latter is also a stakeholder of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity that will come out of the peace agreement with the MILF.
The fact that Misuari has been able to gather thousands of MNLF supporters and members in Zamboanga City shows he is not a spent force.
The problem of government peace negotiators, who are mostly from Luzon, is that they do not know the culture and history of the Muslims—they have never considered themselves part of government.
To ignore the MNLF in the MILF peace deal could be a “road to hell,” as Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat warned.
* * *
Despite the persecution that businessman Robert V. Ongpin is getting from the Aquino government, simply because he admitted to being a friend of former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, the former Marcos Trade Minister is winning one legal battle after another.
First, Ongpin managed to unfreeze all his bank accounts which the Anti-Money Laundering Council froze through a court order. The AMLC simply did not have a case.
Now, it’s the case of a criminal libel case filed against him by lawyer Zenaida Ongkiko-Acorda when Ongpin published a full-page advertisement questioning her attempt to speak for the Development Bank of the Philippines and act as its lawyer.
The law is very clear that a private lawyer cannot speak for a government-owned entity as its lawyer unless there’s a clearance from the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel and the Commission on Audit.
As a result of the advertisement, Ongkiko-Acorda sued Ongpin for criminal libel. This was soon dismissed by the Office of the City Prosecutor since Ongkiko-Acorda got the clearance after she appeared as DBP spokesperson and lawyer. The prosecutor found no probable cause to indict Ongpin.
In this connection, the complaint against Ongpin arose from his controversial loans amounting to P560 million from DBP. The issue led to the suicide of young DBP lawyer Benjamin Pinpin. DBP Chairman Jose Nuñez Jr. wanted Pinpin to “show cause” why he should not be included the graft case against Ongpin.
There never was any investigation on why Pinpin committed suicide and who should be held responsible. It was simply swept under the rug by DBP officials and its board of directors.
* * *
Ninoy Aquino International Airport Customs Collector Carlos “Ding” So is correct in not submitting his letter of resignation to Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, who has ordered all port and sub-port collectors to resign.
It is very clear in the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines that the Customs commissioner has the authority to reshuffle Customs officials with the approval of the Department of Finance. Why then should Biazon want Customs district collectors to resign? That’s redundant. And as I said, so being a lawyer, I think a Career Executive Service Officer cannot be made to resign or get fired unless for cause.
Aside from So, another name that so far has not come up on the list of those who have resigned is the former Collector of the MICP, who despite her undistinguished, often controversial record of service, was reassigned to the Port of Subic when the Aquino administration took over.
Lawyer Adelina Molina is a lawyer, who, surprisingly is not a CESO. Is it true that she got the plum post with the backing of then-National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales? Molina’s son is husband of the daughter of Gonzales.
Who is Molina’s backer? She consistently fails to meet her collection targets. The Attrition Law is clear that non-performance is cause for resignation.
No comments:
Post a Comment