Let congressmen just craft laws

Finally the pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim Napoles surrendered to President Aquino last week after being declared a fugitive from justice. She  surrendered in Malacañang Palace before President Aquino  which made many wonder why  Napoles finally did so and why she didn’t surrender  to the police.

Napoles said it was only the President whom  she could trust to protect her from any threat on her life. It is also best to remember that many powerful officials are involved in the pork barrel scam. Napoles fears they may want to silence her. That and the offer of a P10 million bounty for her capture, a reward announced earlier by the President.

With her surrender, many are hopeful that she will tell the whole truth about the scam and expose legislators and officials in the executive branch who are involved in the misuse of public funds.

I would also like to take issue with Press Secretary Edwin Lacierda when he justified why members of Congress are still given the power  to identify projects in their districts.  I object to this precisely because the pork barrel was a source of graft and corruption with the active role of national  legislator. It’s enough.  We should learn our lesson.

Today the same thing is happening. Based on the Commission on Audit  report, four senators were  involved in  pork barrel anomalies in the amount of  P1 billion with former Senate President Enrile’s pork barrel at P600 million plus, Sen.  Jinggoy Estrada at about P 400 million and Sen.  Bong Revilla at  P200 million and Sen. Gringo Honasan with  less than P50 million.

We’re only talking about senators. We haven’t mentioned yet the involvement of  members of the House of Representatives. That is why many quarters including this writer  object to the proposed scheme that, once again, members of Congress can still identify  projects for funding in the district even if it is clearly presented as a  line item in the national budget. The same shennanigans will happen with this revised  pork barrel scheme.

Abolish the  pork barrel totally. Let  members of Congress perform their duties as plain makers of law, the reason they were elected.  If the executive branch would like to put the  discretionary fund  to better use I suggest it be rechanneled to  local government units through the local mayors or governors, or through the Regional Development Council (RDCs).  No one can argue that the mayors or the governors know what the locality needs in terms of infrastructure etc.

Let members of Congress  concentrate on their Constitutional mandate to craft laws. Let’s see if  there are still politician wannabes who want to run for a seat in Congress.

Mr. President, don’t  miss this opportunity to make political history  with a  legacy of abolishing the pork barrel.

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Rotaplast International Medical Mission will be back in  October to provide free medical surgery  for Filipinos suffering from facial deformities,  cleft lip and cleft palate in particular.  October 10 is the schedule for a  pre-clinic session at the Sian Tian Temple in Banilad Road. Surgeries start oin October 11 to  19 at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. The Rotaplast Mission is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cebu Port Center, the Province of Cebu, Cebu City, the CFI Cooperative and  other Rotary clubs in Cebu.

Those  interested in  availing of the free surgeries, please come to the pre-clinic with your patients on October 10 a the Sian Tian Temple from 8 a.m. to  12 noon.