Those bombshell of mass actions last Monday should be a stern warning to government officials, particularly senators and representatives, not to mess with people's money. Husto na, sobra na! was the rallying call. Reminiscent of Edsa I and II? Indeed.
For while the first Edsa was a strike again dictatorship, it was also a bat against corruption, Edsa II also zeroed in on corruption triggered by cover- up attempt. Had that envelope been opened, the respondent's acquittal might have been acceptable, and no people power world have taken place.
Those protests actions last August 26 in different urban centers in the country had one message; Abolish the pork barrel! But the underlying call was clearly: Abolish corruption! And since anti-corruption has been the avowed mantra of the Aquino administration Malacañang should have been solidly supportive of those events. But why was it jittery and apprehensive? Proof of this was that PNoy suddenly turned around from a publicly released statement against the scrapping of pork barrel and announced, also publicly just two days before the event, that he wanted such allotment abolished.
Another indication of Malacañang's fear of those protest actions was the evident attempt of the Aquino supporters to deflect criticisms against his administration, thus keeping its supposed transparency unsullied. More than this, these supporters actually "sabotaged". according to a local columnist, the rally in Cebu through misinformation, thus confusing the rallyists and discouraging massive attendance. Was this also true in other protest centers?
Still another sign of PNoy's anxiety over the PDAF scam rallies was the sudden issuance by COA of its audit report on the same fund covering calendar years 2007 to 2009, a period under the Arroyo administration. What about the 2010 to 2012 report under Aquino's term, where is it?
Okay, the President wants the PDAF junked, but he also said something about instituting measures on PDAF- like allotments to ensure that these will actually benefit the intended beneficiaries. Is this not a form of double- talk? If the pork barrel is to be abolished, it should be abolished, period.
Legislators are not supposed to implement projects, whether "soft" or "hard" ones. Their job is to guide the operation of government through legislative actions and policy formulations, not to have anything to do in the execution projects, a job which rightly belongs to the Executive Office. How come senators and representatives are getting millions for so called priority development funds?
As the President declared his anti-pork barrel staunch, the question that at once surfaced like a dirty flotsam was. What about his own pork barrel disguised under euphemistic terms such as contingency fund, intelligence fund etc? It's a whopping P499 billions in 2014 as against only P25 billions for senators and congressmen. Is PNoy willing to part with this pork too? He was mum about it in his press conference and this can only lead to one conclusion: He is not giving up his own PDAF--like funds!
Of course, a president without pork is a lame duck president. For how would he be able to influence legislators to tow the line? For their part, senators and representatives would also become lame duck lawmakers. For how would they pursue their programs and projects for their constituents? How else would they finance their reelections?
It is common knowledge that the release of PDAF is determined by how a senator or congressman relates to Malacañang. The amount too is so determined. A legislator getting additional millions in additions to the regular amount? Why not, if he or she is close to Malacañang?
To go back to the question of why Malacañang felt threatened by those rallies, the answer could be that it is aware of its own shortcoming in its "daang matuwid" program. Worse, some of those who have been tagged as purveyors of irregularities are allied with the ruling party, if not, closely associated with the President himself.
Now, the ball is in PNoy's hand. He promised to junk pork barrel funding. If nothing happens the next mass protests could be directed against him.