Daang matuwid exposed

The pork barrel scam has triggered virtual activism and although it is still too early to say if the peaceful demonstrations set to happen across the country on Monday would be able to achieve the critical mass needed to create a nuclear chain reaction so to speak, one thing is sure – people are getting disillusioned over President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

The pork barrel scam has been linked to Janet Lim-Napoles but people are not so stupid that they do not to understand the implications of the mind-boggling plunder. It can only happen in collusion with congressmen and senators.

In an interview, PNoy refused to let go of the pork barrel. He hedged and described the pork as a tool for either good or evil. I wish he had statistics or data to point out the good in the system because COA records pointed only to the criminal aspect of the legislators’ pork barrel.

With PNoy virtually upholding the pork barrel system, the daang matuwid has been exposed and I think that is even more painful than the discovery of billions of pork funds wasted through misuse and kickbacks.

People have all the right to be angry and bereaved because as a former congressman and senator, PNoy is familiar with the web of corruption that surrounds the pork funds; people find it unthinkable that he will sustain corruption by not only refusing to abolish the system but sustaining, even increasing it. From P10.9 billion when former president Gloria Arroyo left office, he upped it to P24 billion when he assumed power.

Next year, the executive branch is poised to increase it by P3 billion more, for a total of P27 billion. Isn’t that rewarding Congress for misusing taxpayers’ money?

An increase of more than 100 percent may be understandable in light of political realities had PNoy not won with a decisive majority, or if he is being confronted by recalcitrant elements in the military. But congressmen and senators tend to be unruly only if the President commits a major lapse amounting to culpable violation of the Constitution.

I don’t know if P-Noy realizes that he has the upper hand in the current situation. He knows the lay of the legislative land and with stellar popularity ratings year in and year out, who needs to kowtow to Congress?

I hope the President will not squander the opportunity of his election into office. He owes corrupt politicians nothing. He owes his presidency to the filial devotion of his countrymen to the memory of Ninoy and Cory Aquino.

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The social media initiative calling for a “Million People March to Luneta” and other parts of the country to call for the abolition of the pork barrel is much more felt in urban centers like Manila, Baguio, Cebu and Davao. But vigilant advocacy has also crept into the awareness of people in the bucolic town of Bugasong, Antique, thanks to a courageous and civic minded man named Jose Allan Sanchez Bartolo.

Jose Allan runs the community station Hot FM Bugasong 102.9 and I happened to know him through an elite co-operative training course known as Philippine Development Education or PhDE sponsored by Victo National Co-operative Federation and Development Center a couple of months back.

In the course of checking my e-mails and Facebook alerts the other day, I received several posts about the Aug. 26 One Million March to Luneta, an initiative that later on caught fire in Cebu.

I “liked” the post, and when I saw that Jose Allan also thumbed up the program, I asked if the people of Bugasong were also fired up by the pork barrel scam. He replied, quite sadly that Antiqueños seemed not to be paying any attention to the issue. I told him the protests are gaining ground because it is aided by technology.

After our talk, Jose Allan interviewed former national treasurer Leonor Briones via phone patch over his radio station. The people of Bugasong and other parts of Antique must have listened intently to the inputs and analysis of Briones because they were disgusted after the radio chat.

A few texts and private messages to vigilant citizens, campus journalists, religious leaders and members of people’s organizations finally stitched up the people’s rally for Bugasong and other parts of Antique. In sum, it all began in Facebook.

The last time we exchanged notes, Jose Allan was already drafting the ecumenical prayer for the peaceful rally on Monday. That is well thought of because the cry for the abolition of the pork barrel, is, in essence, invoking God’s mercy in these very difficult times.