The pork and the thief

In an apparent reaction to being tagged as “Pork Barrel King” by critics, President Noynoy Aquino angrily told his bosses, “I am not a thief” in a surprise 12-minute statement over primetime television last Wednesday. The president also went to great lengths to explain that the Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP is not the same animal as the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF, also known as the now much maligned and despised pork barrel.

Obviously, the P10-billion PDAF/pork barrel fund scandal has continued to haunt this country, striking a very discordant chord among millions of taxpaying Filipinos who are appalled, angry and disgusted at the discovery that billions of taxes collected by government from the hard-earned money of the people are being wasted on fake NGOs and purely ghost projects — with Janet Lim Napoles ironically partying at her multi-million peso mausoleum at Heritage Park. What was even more galling for many is the thought that Napoles — who has since acquired the title of “Pork Queen” — was swimming in a bathtub-full of cash both literally and figuratively while the victims of Typhoons Pepeng and Ondoy were wallowing in miserable conditions.

Plunder charges have already been filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against those suspected of involvement in the alleged pork fund scam, with the Department of Justice asking for the cancellation of the passports of some of those being accused, primarily opposition senators and other legislators. But what Filipinos want to see is full accountability from everyone – including administration allies — who have been or are being implicated in the misuse of public funds. People are tired of corrupt and dishonest leaders with whom they have entrusted this country’s future – and they definitely demand equal justice to be served be they opposition or administration allies, and that there be no “sacred pigs.”

Judging from the reactions of people — what they really wanted to hear is for the president to tell them what he intends to do with the controversial pork barrel system, knowing that this is the very same system that has spawned patronage politics, feeding the greed of pork-hungry, corrupt public officials.  “We are not stupid, we are angry and we are disgusted,” said the group of young and tech-savvy business process outsourcing employees, slamming “the corruption that goes with the pork barrel system,” pointing out that this has hounded the country for decades.

The Scrap Pork Network — the group that wants total abolition of the pork barrel system — is right in saying that “similar pork barrel controversies could continue unless the system is overhauled.” Pork scandals will keep happening because all kinds of pork scams are sure to be perpetrated again and again unless the loopholes and weaknesses in the system are fixed. One thing is clear about this: The pork barrel by itself is not corrupt or evil — it’s the people who abuse and go around the procedures and the system of procurement, fund utilization and disbursement. “We want the vulnerabilities not only plugged but a strong wall put in front of it,” the Scrap Pork Network succinctly puts it.

The magnitude of the wastage has understandably spurred some groups to go to the extreme, demanding the total abolition of the pork barrel including the president’s discretionary funds from the Disbursement Acceleration Program. However, there are equally a number of people including myself who believe that totally scrapping the President’s discretionary funds is not the “right thing” to do because readily available funds must always be there for emergencies and disasters, especially so with a country like the Philippines ranked among the most vulnerable to climate change as well as one of the most disaster prone, as everyone has most recently seen with the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that ravaged Bohol and Cebu. 

The fact is, many Filipinos believe what the president has always maintained – that he is not corrupt and dishonest — precisely why people are looking at him to institutionalize reforms and changes in the system that would not only enhance checks and balances but make it totally transparent. People want the assurance that funds will not be dangled as a carrot for legislators to toe the administration line, like what is being said about the DAP funds reportedly used to assure the conviction of former Chief Justice Renato Corona. 

The public has the right to know where their money goes, or how it is being spent, which is why the government should pay particular heed to calls for transparency in governance. The passage of the Freedom of Information act would give the public full access to government records including transactions involving big-ticket projects without compromising national security or revealing the government’s position pertaining to international agreements. As Senator Grace Poe rightfully noted, the Freedom of Information law will give Filipinos the opportunity to actively participate in monitoring how government uses taxpayer money.

Considering how more and more Filipinos have access to smartphones and information-tech gadgets — instituting transparency should not be difficult. All government has to do is provide a website the public can access to find out how much is being disbursed for particular projects, which agency is doing the disbursing and to whom. The Philippines under President Aquino has made a lot of headway as far as structural reforms are concerned, with the country now upgraded to investment grade by international credit ratings agencies due in large part to “improved governance” and sound “fiscal reforms.” The biggest tragedy is to see — whoever President Aquino’s successor would be — the obliteration of the many gains that have been achieved over the past three years.

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