Not serious about pork graft

It was not too long  ago that I discussed the  the legislative pork barrel. The term “pork barrel” orginated in the United States and was adopted in the Philippine  Congress.

I first encountered the reality of the pork barrel in 1987 when I was working with Sen.  Alberto G. Romulo.

I only had a vague idea about it until Romulo discussed its usefulness  as he listed down requests from local governments for assistance. One time Romulo told the staff to stop using his pork barrel to build roads and bridges to avoid  irregularities and to instead focus on the construction of school buildings where every  nail  could be accounted for. The senator explained the merits of the discretionary fund. When it’s  properly used, he said, it’s of great help to many little known and far-flung areas  that need infrastructure projects but are neglected in  our highly centralized system of government.

Senator Romulo called it a great equalizer.  A former budget secretary once said the pork barrel was  a waste of money because  45 percent is lost to  graft and corruption.

Today the pork barrel is  again hogging the  newspaper headlines, and is called the  scam of all  scams . About P10 billion in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of legislators in both houses was siphoned off to fake NGOs through the manipulation of  Janet Lim Napoles and her sister.

As the investigation continued it was found out that the scam was more  extensive,  involving local government units and their officials as well.

Many names of of local officials were misused and their  signatures turned out to be forged.  Names of fake beneficiaries were taken from lists of board and bar passers. The NGOs listed as conduits were non-existent or no longer found at their given address.

It’s funny how after the expose, members of Congress whose PDAF were used suddenly behave as if they don’t know  Janet Napoles.

Investigating the scam, the Department of Justice said there are members of Congress whose pork barrel found its way to  NGOs founded by Napoles.  Some legislators conveniently  forgot that they transacted with the woman in one way or another.

The  pork barrel scam has become  too hot to handle that even Congress refuses to investigate.  Why the sudden cold feet on the part of legislators?

They say that because many of their peers are involved.  The executive department has distanced itself from the controversy so much so that some sectors are quietly asking the President to investigate and take action.

I am really hoping that the Daang Matuwid administration of President Aquino would indeed take positive action on this betrayal of trust involving  the people’s money.

It’s strange how some officials  investigate just any anomaly  in government but right now no one in Aquino’s administration is serious about the misuse of pork barrel funds, apparently because many who are involved are close to Malacañang and expect to get a slap on the wrist and nothing more.

I need not  enumerate the cases but it is clear that this administration is not really what its propagandists say it is. They say one thing and do the opposite.