The poster boys of ‘pork’

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/10/16/the-poster-boys-of-pork/

By Alejandro Del Rosario

Is President Benigno S. Aquino III beyond redemption? Can he still redeem his Presidency from the precipice?

Instead of fixing flaws in his administration now on its midterm, the man refuses to heed the handwriting on the wall.  A Social Weather Stations survey shows his popularity rating has plunged 15 points from 64 to 49 percent.

A Palace statement says the President is unperturbed by the latest SWS survey conducted nationwide from Sept. 20 to 23—during the height of the pork barrel scam and the MNLF siege of Zamboanga.

After enjoying high approval ratings in earlier poll surveys, the people have finally seen  through Aquino’s high-horse hypocrisy of “daang matuwid ” or the straight path
I do not wish to play with words but if PNoy is not disturbed by this latest poll result, then he must be disturbed. Take it in a clinical context to mean that the citizenry should jolt him from his stupor.

Still unflappable, the pig-headed PNoy is bent on retaining his presidential pork and the sole power to disburse off –budget items such as the Malampaya funds and the Priority Development Assistance Fund which was publicly abolished but still hidden with legislators who can recommend their projects.

They said former dictator Ferdinand Marcos could not get off the tiger that was martial law which he imposed.  Aquino, on the other hand, cannot stop the  feeding frenzy for the pork-addicted legislators lest they turn against and feast on him.

Warts in the Aquino administration continue to surface: Unconscionable P1-million bonus to Social Security System board members; a “Ma’am Arlene” counterpart of pork scam brains Janet Lim Napoles in the Judiciary, and other hitherto unbeknownst (to us taxpayers) additional pork for senators.

Sandra Cam, the jueteng payola whistleblower, exposed the close relationships of Senate President Franklin Drilon and Janet Napoles who she said was a big contributor to the Liberal Party in the 2013 senatorial elections. She showed photos of Drilon standing beside Candaba, Pampanga mayoral candidate Rene Manglaque who was introduced by Napoles to the then-LP campaign manager Drilon.

Drilon, when invited for an interview with GMA TV anchor Arnold Clavio, instead sent poor Raul Daza  to take all the flak. It was pathetic how Daza groped for words to answer Clavio’s questions and Cam’s allegation. Mercifully, Clavio cut off Daza lest he make a bigger fool of himself.

Cam said the reason Drilon blocked Napoles’ appearance at the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing was that he did not want her to reveal more in the course of questioning. This, despite committee chairman Teofisto Guingona’s insistence to summon Napoles.
Baka nga naman magbeso-beso pa si Ma’am Janet kay Drilon and the rest of the gang at the Senate session hall.

While B.S. Aquino rants against being called  “pork barrel king,” there are two other top officials who are also the poster boys of  “pork”.

They are Budget Mismanagement Secretary “Butch” Abad and Drilon. Abad is the butcher who chops up the choice cuts of pork for favored and administration allies lawmakers, while Drilon is the distribution outlet for senators.

Actually, these are not my words (though my sentiments, exactly) but the sense of outrage carried on the placards of the Million People Marches held at Luneta Park and at the Ayala business district.

The turnout at the Ayala CBD may not have been as large as the spontaneous Luneta  outpouring of anger. More public protests being planned could presage a more turbulent gathering storm.

The statement of Aquino at the recent Asean summit in Bali wherein he told reporters at the sidelines that he was not seeking  another term has to be seen as a self-serving, gratuitous statement. He knows the Philippine Constitution limits presidents to a single, six year term. So what’s that statement all about?

This has to be the most reviled Philippine president of all time. A lot of people are beginning to think even Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may not be so bad after all compared to the double-speaking, Machiavellian B.S. Aquino.

Retired Senator Joker Arroyo has branded Aquino’s three-year rule as “a facist dictatorship” that brooks no criticism and misappropriates public funds to punish its political enemies.

Joker’s words, not mine. And this is coming from someone who served as Executive Secretary to and stood by President Cory Aquino, Noynoy’s mother.

This country is cursed with accidental presidents. Cory was swept to the Presidency when People Power threw out Marcos. The son Noynoy pole-vaulted to the Palace on the outpouring of grief in the wake of Cory’s death.

We are either truly cursed or we simply have an illiterate electorate who can’t choose their leaders well. How else do you explain a great majority of voters electing the Estradas father and sons, actors Ramon “Bong” Revilla and wife Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado, Lito Lapid and Tito Sotto?

I have nothing against actors. They at least have the economic sense that there’s more money to be made in being a politician than making movies.

Is it any wonder the once-simply-called Malacañang Press Office, now known as the Communications and Strategic Planning Group, is having difficulty communicating the President’s policy and other official actions?


The message is only as good as the product. And the product, PNoy and his presidency, are damaged goods.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/10/16/the-poster-boys-of-pork/