Help seniors without politicking

Barangay officials who are affiliated with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) do not have the right to complain about the politicking that allegedly happened during the distribution of financial assistance to senior citizens in Cebu City. BO-PK allies accused candidates for barangay election from Team Rama for taking advantage of the occasion by early campaigning.

I remember that the distribution of cash gifts to the senior citizens used to be done through the barangay officials. What happened?

Some officials were suspected of trying to sabotage the distribution by making it confusing. The Rama administration learned a hard lesson from previous experiences. The mayor realized that there is no way to distribute the financial assistance except through City Hall personnel.

The participation of some candidates for barangay election from Team Rama was logical because they were out there to help and not to sabotage the distribution.

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It may be true that certain issues were raised to divert attention from the pork barrel controversy, particularly the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that was sourced from government savings and released by the President to national lawmakers.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada revealed it and some senators confirmed that the President distributed the DAP during and after the impeachment and conviction of former chief justice Corona.

Today, some quarters are questioning the legality of the DAP before the Supreme Court though Malacañang has justified the release saying that the DAP was not given to lawmakers but to government agencies.

I believe the DAP and its distribution should be studied and reviewed by the Supreme Court. There is a legal question that needs to be settled especially on the law that authorizes the DAP.

Former senator Joker Arroyo said the DAP is not found in the General Appropriations Act and may be considered illegal.

Malacañang has applied a liberal interpretation of how to use savings in the government while the Constitution only authorized the government to augment the budget of certain offices using their savings. Projects funded by the DAP need to be disclosed so people would know if indeed the fund was used for programs.

Suffice it is to say that many parts of the country urgently need the attention of the administration and the DAP fund could have been useful to meet this need.

Another concern that should be given priority by the government is how to speed up the prosecution of those involved in the pork barrel scam.

The department also filed charges against those involved in stealing money from the Malampaya project in Palawan led by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the nongovernment organizations identified with the accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

It is very clear that the pork barrel system or scheme has been abused by our lawmakers and their conduits. We should put an end to this.

It seems that nobody in the legislature can be considered clean. Even those who are investigating the pork barrel scam are involved in one way or the other in some misuse of the funds.

No wonder some sectors are demanding that we abolish not just the pork barrel but Congress as well. After all we are a nation with many beautifully crafted but poorly implemented laws.

So let’s abolish Congress for six years and concentrate on implementing our laws. Let’s consider political reforms like shifting from a highly centralized form of government to a federal system.