Editorial
No question about it: The P317-billion pork barrel of Noynoy Aquino passed on in the 2013 national budget as the “Special Purpose Fund” that is discretionary and only Aquino can disburse it as he pleases — is to be used by Noynoy and his Liberal Party for election purposes.
How else can it not be so? In the first place, suddenly, next year being an election year, out pops the humongous P317-billion discretionary presidential fund that is a first time in a budget bill.
Why is there suddenly a Special Purpose Fund (SPF) created at this particular budget bill time? What special purpose is there to allot P317 billion, which purposes or projects are not even itemized since the Palace left it vague and devoid of details and on a lump sum basis?
In the second place, it is the people’s money in the hundreds of billions and there is a doubling of budget allocations for some projects that are said included in the SPF of Noynoy.
Why can’t the expenditure of hundreds of billions in taxpayers’ money be itemized, or even be made transparent by this administration which claims to embrace honesty, transparency and the straight path?
Allocating a P317 billion discretionary fund that a president can dip his hands into, without any need for even a government audit, and disburse these monies as he deems fit, and “special funds” moreover whose purpose remains unknown surely can’t be an example of transparency, or honesty and even walking the straight path, as there is no accountability at all from the opaque disburser, Noynoy.
LP secretary-general Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya claimed that some P25 billion in that SPF is alloted for the congressional pork barrel and explained that this P25-billion congressional pork is just being “temporarily housed” in the SPF.
There lies another anomaly and room for more doubt. Why should the congressional pork barrel even be “temporarily” housed in the SPF when all these years, pork barrel allocations were never included in any special funds?
Minority members of Congress have pointed out that with Noynoy now in control of their pork, all the more can Aquino and future presidents completely control the legislative branch and turn its members into complete puppets to do his bidding — or else, they get nothing.
Most politicians who are in power and position, being allies of the Malacañang tenant today, don’t really see further than their noses. They may be enjoying power and pelf today, but these allies may well be in the minority when a new administration or a future on comes into play. What then will likely happen as they, being in majority today will be in the minority in the future and will probably be bitching about their unreleased pork barrel — unless of course, they again lose their balls — if they ever had them in the first place — and swear fealty to the new Malacañang chief, in which case, the nation may as well have just one branch of government, since Malacañang controls all three branches anyway.
But there again went Abaya, in defense of his master in Malacañang, saying that the reason the P317 billion SPF failed to provide details is that various departments were given a month’s deadline for submission of the details of their projects that would be funded by this special fund but that they missed the deadline.
Malacañang and the LPs must think the Filipinos very stupid to swallow that line.
Is Abaya also saying that Congress failed to meet that budget deadline for the members’ pork that this too was included in the SPF?
The Aquino government has been in office for over two years, and has submitted budgets before.
All department heads know when budget making comes around, as they prepare themselves for congressional hearings. To this day, none of them know just what projects their departments are to be scheduled for 2013? Abaya should try another lie, but again maybe not, since these yellow allies who keep heaping praises on Noynoy and his claimed transparency have not even been heard to question such a gigantic pork barrel of Noynoy that any moron can see would be used for the 2013 elections.
Or is it a question of “He may be a sonafabitch, but he’s our yellow sonafabitch”?
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