EDITORIAL
Manila Standard Today
Manila Standard Today
Senator Miriam Santiago said a mouthful that should put many of her colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives to shame. The feisty senator called a spade a spade when she exposed the practice of her colleagues to pocket, every year, hundreds of millions of pesos in pork barrel kickbacks, unspent money in their budgets and numerous bonuses coming from secret funds.
Senator Santiago accused the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives of creating and spending “savings” and “secret funds,” which the Commission on Audit would not dare review for fear of clashing with politicians.
“The so-called savings of each public office has turned into a national scandal, the grandmama of all scandals,” Santiago said.
Such savings are allowed by the Constitution to be used at the end of the year. “But in reality, the head of office manipulates the books and creates so-called savings, by refusing to fill up vacancies, or refusing to buy essential office supplies or services, or capital equipment. These so-called enforced savings are then distributed among the highest officials in the guise of Christmas bonuses,” Santiago said.
The senator issued the blunt remark in reaction to the public admission of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that he authorized the release of the Christmas bonuses of 22 senators totaling almost P30 million from unspent funds. At least 18 senators received P1.6 million each and four senators P250,000 each.
Enrile’s admission was unconscionable, even if he defended his action as “purely discretionary on the part of the Senate President.” The savings remain public funds that could be reallocated to more deserving sectors such as health and education. They could contribute to the funding of farm-to-market roads, purchase medicines in behalf of many indigent Filipinos or rehabilitate bridges or other structures damaged by recent typhoons.
Senator Enrile should be reminded that the national government is still incurring a budget deficit, which means a great part of expenditures are funded by borrowings due to a shortfall in tax revenues. The bonuses he doled to his fellow senators could have at least reduced the budget deficit and cut the borrowings of the government he serves.
The high officials who received their bonuses from Senator Enrile should immediately return the money in consideration of the fiscal problems facing the government, and should not behave as if they are above reproach.
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