No more pork barrel will change our politics

The people of Bantayan Island who still have no power up to this time are totally reliant on the power of the printed word (you can get The Freeman and the Philippine STAR to get information) there. Many Bantayanons have been following our columns and some of them sent me text messages thanking me for telling the truth on what’s happening there…that until now, the National Government has not reached this part of Northern Cebu… nor has President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III even dropped by for a short visit.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday The Freeman and The Philippine STAR’s Operation “Damayan” went to Bantayan Island and went straight to the worst hit town of Madridejos to bring some 2,300 relief packs to the townsfolk there. This convoy was spearheaded by no less than Philippine STAR president and CEO Miguel and Millette Belmonte. Sir Jose “Dodong” Gullas also offered to repair the damaged San Miguel Parish Church in Tapilon, Daanbantayan. For sure, Bantayanons would never forget this act of kindness. God bless you all!

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Call it an early Christmas present that the Supreme Court (SC) gave to the Filipino people when it declared a couple of days ago that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) a.k.a. pork barrel was unconstitutional and therefore null and void. Thank you Supreme Court Justices for restoring our faith in our Judiciary at a time when we really thought and believed that you were all inside the pocket of President Aquino. At least we could still count on the independence of the Supreme Court.

What totally surprised me was the 14-0 vote with one abstention and history has been made… that just when the Filipino nation was suffering from the devastation wrought by the Oct. 15 earthquake and the Nov. 8 Super Typhoon “Yolanda,” we finally heard some good news… or let me call it the light at the end of a long dark tunnel where the political elite helped fatten themselves of the monies taken from the blood, sweat and tears of the Filipino taxpayers as if the pork barrel were their private piggy bank!

Thankfully, House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. issued a statement that the House of Representatives would no longer ask the Supreme Court for a motion for reconsideration. Therefore you can consider this SC ruling as final and executory.

With this SC ruling, for sure it would change the political landscape because those from the political elite who still believe that a Congressional or Senatorial seat is like a family heirloom to be handed down from one member of the family to the next would now have to reevaluate their positions. If they still want to be in power, they must now spend their own monies with no hope to recover what they spent from the PDAF or pork barrel.

With the SC ruling, we are now headed to a dark and stark political future. With the great majority of the Filipino people very reliant on their Congressmen for medical expenses and even burial expenses… this old political lifestyle will soon be changing and perhaps for the better for this nation.

With the majority of the Filipino voter so used to going to the polls because his or her favorite political candidate would offer them money for their votes (often, they give P500 bucks) in the next elections I predict that there would be less vote-buying… and with that possibility looming, there will be fewer people, especially the Masa who would be interested to go to the polling places to vote. These are just some of the fallout from the nuclear bomb that the SC exploded when it declared the Pork Barrel finally dead!

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Did we hear Department of Development & Social Welfare (DSWD) Dinky Soliman say that Local Government Units (LGU) officials that do not help in the delivery or distribution of relief goods will face charges? Perhaps the Office of the Ombudsman should charge Dinky Soliman herself for what we heard about the foreign relief goods that were repacked and renamed under the DSWD. Dinky Soliman must have forgotten that phrase, “When you point your finger at someone, do not ever forget that three of your fingers are pointing back at you!”

Kudos to the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas through Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol who was quick to suggest to the DSWD-7 officials to stop the repacking of the aid pouring into Cebu. Unfortunately, the Office of the Ombudsman merely made this a suggestion in line of the numerous complaints by DSWD volunteers. So the big question is… whether the DSWD in Region-7 would listen to the suggestions by the Ombudsman? Meanwhile, we heard over radio that DSWD doesn’t allow cellphones inside repacking centers. Why? Because DSWD officials know that many cellphones today also double as cameras? So what are they hiding from us?

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