Coalition vs pork barrel scores national budget
The Cebu Media yesterday held an open and frank meeting with Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma together with the Cebu Coalition against the Pork Barrel System led by Msgr. Romulo Kintanar at the Sacred Heart Center. When it was my turn to speak, I told the group that the Cebu media was at a lost as to what to report because we already published before about issues brought forth by the Coalition. It was then that I pointed out to a GMA-7 News item last Dec. 23 that reported "Pres. PNoy signs P2.6 Trillion National Budget into law" and asked if the Cebu Coalition was against it?
That GMA-7 report clearly stated that the National Budget contained a modified definition of savings after the Supreme Court ruled the administration's Disbursement Acceleration Program as partly unconstitutional. Hence, I asked Msgr. Kintanar whether or not we can state categorically that the Cebu Coalition against the Pork Barrel System was against the recently signed P2.606 Trillion National Budget?
My query was answered by Marc Canton who told the body that "Yes," the Coalition condemned the 2015 National Budget because it still contained the hated pork barrel. So finally we had something to report that was not yet official when we entered the meeting room at the Sacred Heart Center yesterday.
The whole problem with the Aquino regime is that they are still trying to fool the Filipino people despite the fact that the Supreme Court already declared the Pork Barrel a.k.a. Priority Development Assistance Program, and the Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional and therefore patently illegal.
We also cited what Pope Francis told us during his visit here a couple of weeks ago, "To reject all forms of corruption because it takes away moneys that would otherwise have been used to help the poor." We know too well that the political elite has been misusing the pork barrel to stuff themselves rich and thus deny monies that should have gone to the poor.
The problem with the Aquino regime is that they have mastered the art of lying through their teeth! The 2015 national budget still contained the pork barrel, yet they insist that there is no pork barrel there. But we know that the pork barrel is alive and well in the 2015 national budget.
Speaking of lies, no less that Sec. Dinky Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development was caught lying through her teeth when she insisted that no street children were taken off the streets and caged as reported by The Daily Mail of the United Kingdom. Finally, over the weekend, no less than Soliman admitted that they took some 500 street children and their families and billeted them at the Chateau Royale in Nasugbu, Batangas.
So there you are, Stinky Dinky was caught once more lying through her teeth. Lying seems to be the passion of Pres. PNoy! Now Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and the Party-List members of Congress from Gabriela and Abakada are demanding an investigation into this latest DSWD caper.
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Last week, Cebu Pacific Airlines Lance Gokongwei apologized publicly for the massive delays that CebuPac caused last December, where passengers suddenly found their flights cancelled without any warning or information. Before he faced the congressional inquiry, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines slapped a P50 million peso fine against CebuPac, to which Mr. Gokongwei wanted to know what the fine was all about. Frankly speaking that P50 million should have been given to the thousands of irate passengers whose travel plans were disturbed last December causing untold inconvenience.
Just when I thought that all this would be behind us, my friend, Engr. Douglas Gacasan texted me yesterday that because he avoided taking Cebu Pacific to Davao City, he got a booking from Air Asia on flight no.Z2523, which was slated to depart Mactan at 9:15AM yesterday morning.
To his complete surprise, when he got into the counter of Air Asia, they were advised that the airline could only take 90 passengers and they had to be rebooked at 3:00PM yesterday afternoon. Shades of Cebu Pacific? Since his appointment in Davao City was at 3:00PM, he now had to purchase a more expensive ticket from Cebu Pacific that left at 11:30AM yesterday. This brings us to ask this question: why do airlines not give any proper warnings to its passengers? This is the age of instant communications and I would like to believe that a good majority of air travelers do have cellphones or members of their families that have cellphones so that they can be contacted so that they do not have to go to the airport just to learn that their flights are cancelled or moved to another schedule.
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