Serving sans pork

Since the justices of the Supreme Court unanimously declared the pork barrel system unconstitutional, Congress and the agencies under President Benigno Aquino III need to accomplish an important series of tasks.

The first, with the help of the Commission on Audit (COA), is to render a full account of all the priority development assistance funds allocated and spent from the beginning of the current administration to date.

Lest our officials forget, the fiasco involving five senators, 23 congressmen, Janet Lim-Napoles and P10 billion in pork barrel funds reportedly occurred before the President’s term.

Our leaders owe us transparency on how they used public money through the years. We know that the advent of a presidency that styled itself as the scourge of crooks did not translate in a flash to immaculate official transactions.

Once all the money is accounted for, the President must flex his muscles and bid lawmakers proven to have taken advantage of the system to “Return the money,” as Chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan of COA put it.

Like Napoles and the disgraced leaders who now face plunder and malversation suits, other culprits must be haled to court even as the government moves mountains to recover ill-gotten wealth and guard unspent money.

Second, lawmakers and heads of executive agencies need to produce an inventory of legitimate beneficiaries of the Priority Development Assistance Fund so that they will continue to benefit from government funding.

Contrary to what government lawyers and some members of Congress wanted us to believe, divesting the latter of pork does not mean scholarships and medical assistance for indigents must stop.

It simply means, as Rep. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing of Cebu’s 6th district said, that these and other services can continue, supervised by officials of the executive branch.

The High Tribunal’s decision is not the picture of misfortune that Rep. Benhur Salimbangon of Cebu’s 4th district paints it to be.

Salimbangon griped that the High Court paralyzed congressmen who wanted to help survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda, like his constituents in northern Cebu.

In fact, what the Sereno Court did was free our congressmen to exercise oversight on agencies concerned with storm relief and rehabilitation.

It does not take pockets deep with pork for legislators to monitor executive agencies and make sure they serve every last member of the worst-hit communities.

All that our solons need are hearts that brim with compassion for all, especially the vulnerable, and the will to devote what brilliance and influence they have to critical collaboration with fellow public servants.