May pinirmahan kami ni Leni Robredo

ISANG malaking karangalan ang makipirma sa isang kasulatan na pinirmahan din ni Congresswoman Leni Robredo ng Albay. Si Leni at ako ay dalawa lamang sa mga humigit kumulang sa 60 mga bagitong kongresista na lumagda sa isang resolution sa Kongreso na nagsasaad na i-abolish na ang Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) o pork barrel para sa 2014. Ginawa namin ito noong September 5, 2013 kahit hindi pa mas­yado ang kainitan ng galit ng taumbayan sa PDAF.

At dahil natuwa ako sa ipinamalas ni Robredo at ng aking mga kapwa kongresista na sinang-ayunan ko, ako ay nag-deliver ng extemporaneous privilege speech noong September 10 na ang nilalaman, among others, ay ang mga sumusunod: “I salute my colleagues for heeding public opinion. You remind me my dear colleagues of the song of Bob Dylan which says… ‘‘Come Senators and Congressmen please heed the call. Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall. For he that gets hurt will be he who has told there’s a battle outside and its raging. It will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are a-changing.”

Some voices from the past are also cautioning us like Charles Dudley Warner circa 1870’s who said: “Public opinion is stronger than the Legislature and nearly as strong as the Ten Commandments.” Si Abraham Lincoln naman ay nagsabi: “Public opinion in this country is every­thing.”

The times, they are a-changing indeed. Huwag na huwag nating isinasaula ang sentimyento ng taumba-yan. Ang galit nila ay parang isang malaking bulkan na nagbabadyang pumutok. Maghunosdili tayong lahat na mga nasa gobyerno. Drop everything and listen to the people; drop the pork barrel. Huwag na nating hintayin na ipamalas pa sa atin ang kanilang kapangyarihan. The people’s wrath is always devastating. It did Saddam Hussein in, as well as Moahmar Khadafy. After all what are they as sovereign for.