Last Sunday’s Inquirer identified senior staff members of some senators and congressmen as conduits for channeling funds to Janet Lim-Napoles. This revelation practically belies the denial of some senators and congressmen who said they do not know Napoles at all.
The flow of congressional pork barrel showed that the members of Congress do know about transactions with Napoles and as a matter of fact these get their go signal. It is very clear that the pork barrel funds of the members of Congress have been abused with the participation of its members of Congress and believe me, nobody believes their claim that they have nothing to do with the pork barrel scam.
Mind you, this is not the first time that we have heard reports about members of Congress misusing and abusing their pork barrels. Yesterday’s abuse is just not as pronounced as today’s. That is why I was disappointed with the President’s announcement that he abolished the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) for Congress when in fact it remains except this time it goes through line budgeting.
All the same, the members of Congress could still identify projects for their districts meaning the possibility of graft and corruption remains. It would have been different if the President totally abolished the pork barrel system by barring members of Congress from identifying projects in order to stop the abuse of the money.
Senators and congressmen get a huge amount of money as commission that is why graft and corruption never ceases with their participation in financing projects. Let us make it clear that members of Congress are elected to make laws and not to implement infrastructure projects. That is their contract with the people.
I bet you once the pork barrel is gone nobody would run for Congress. The reason there are so many who want to become members of Congress is the huge amount of pork barrel lawmakers get. Today’s call for the local government officials is good governance. I think that should also be the call for the members of Congress.
I ask the President, if he really and truly intends to eliminate graft and corruption to abolish the congressional pork barrel and use the money to finance the Annual Investment Program of the local government where it can be put to better use.
I am hoping that the President will listen to the cries of the people and not be held hostage by members of Congress. Otherwise he will lose popular support. The masses are directly affected by graft and corruption. The abuse of the pork barrel has deprived them of basic social services.
I was appalled by the double talk of the President because apparently he still bows to the needs of the members of Congress. He announced the abolition of the PDAF but still gives them a say on the projects that they would like to identify for their districts. It is still the same dog but this time with a different collar.
The President missed the opportunity to make history when he failed to abolish the congressional pork barrel. Believe me, the people would have praised the President if he only he did so to lessen graft and corruption in his government.
There is no question that we have an honest President but we cannot say the same of his government which is very unfortunate. I wish the President would join the millions of suffering Filipinos who are disgusted by abuse of their hard-earned money.