Oink (again)
Oink (again)
Updated 01:12am (Mla time) Sept 08, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 8, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THERE is a saying in the American South that the only part of the pig politicians don't use is the oink. Here it can be said that when it comes to the pork barrel of our legislators the only thing the people get is the oink.
A typical oink came from Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye who, in response to the loud public clamor to abolish the congressional pork barrel, issued a statement saying that really, the pork barrel isn't so bad. At a time when there is a groundswell of support for eliminating the pork barrel, a public feeling being shared even by a growing number of politicians, the last thing the country needs is an official defense of the pork barrel coming from Malacañang.
And yet it has been made, and we have heard this type of reasoning before: guns don't kill, people do; drinking and gambling don't destroy lives, drunkards and gamblers do. Which ignores the responsibility of the state to ensure that people aren't given the means to irresponsibly destroy their lives or that of others. When it comes to illegal drugs, for example, we may all agree to save the user by offering rehabilitation, but we also all agree to jail the pusher--which also means cracking down on trafficking in illegal drugs.
The same responsibility applies to the pork barrel, the most addictive and pernicious political drug there is, next to armed terrorism. Whatever good things may be said in defense of the pork barrel, the fact remains that it is not only a cause of corruption among politicians but it also fosters breaking the law among private contractors, civil servants, and promotes cynicism and selfishness among their constituency. The pork barrel system as it has mutated over the years, is so thoroughly rotten, so totally without merit or fiscal logic, that it must be eliminated completely.
Just how thoroughly corrupt and counterproductive the pork barrel has become is best illustrated by what foreign observers say of our politicians. Even jaded types point out that while the Philippines is far from being unusual in having so many politicians and contractors out to skim funds from the pork barrel, the greed of our politicians and their friends is without equal. There is simply no end to it. And reports such as those of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism indicate that the skimming of percentages has become quite institutionalized on a national level. Foreigners will tell any Filipino who will listen that the problem is that our politicians don't know when to stop, and neither do their friends.
Filipino expatriates who live in countries that also see numerous cases of corruption often say the same thing. The difference between our corruption, for example, and the crookedness that occurs in some of our neighboring countries, is that a P10-million road will be built in another country at a cost of P15 million, while here at home, we get a P1-million road after spending P10 million.
Should Malacañang then argue degrees of utility, with varying shades of ambiguity, when to the rest of us and even some of our politicians who still have a conscience, everything is crystal clear? The pork barrel is bad. It is bad because it transforms public service into an instrument for personal gain and cronyism as well as a source of corruption for both the public and private sectors. It is bad because it diverts our nation's resources into private pockets and by its very nature makes it easier to break the law than follow it. We can obsess on the anatomy of corruption all we want, but until the putrefying flesh is buried once and for all, it will stink.
There are rare times when public opinion is able to inspire our leaders to give up the means to retain power, and these are such times. And yet what do we have, but an administration, which got the ball rolling by calling for a 40-percent cut in the pork barrel, now trying to stop the very momentum it tried to create. The public has to wonder at the kind of leadership that is able to latch on to issues that resonate with the public, only to devote its energies to disproving any benefits from its own proposals.
Could it be that having succeeded in getting the Filipino people interested in addressing the looming financial crisis, Malacañang is now afraid of the results?
Updated 01:12am (Mla time) Sept 08, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 8, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THERE is a saying in the American South that the only part of the pig politicians don't use is the oink. Here it can be said that when it comes to the pork barrel of our legislators the only thing the people get is the oink.
A typical oink came from Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye who, in response to the loud public clamor to abolish the congressional pork barrel, issued a statement saying that really, the pork barrel isn't so bad. At a time when there is a groundswell of support for eliminating the pork barrel, a public feeling being shared even by a growing number of politicians, the last thing the country needs is an official defense of the pork barrel coming from Malacañang.
And yet it has been made, and we have heard this type of reasoning before: guns don't kill, people do; drinking and gambling don't destroy lives, drunkards and gamblers do. Which ignores the responsibility of the state to ensure that people aren't given the means to irresponsibly destroy their lives or that of others. When it comes to illegal drugs, for example, we may all agree to save the user by offering rehabilitation, but we also all agree to jail the pusher--which also means cracking down on trafficking in illegal drugs.
The same responsibility applies to the pork barrel, the most addictive and pernicious political drug there is, next to armed terrorism. Whatever good things may be said in defense of the pork barrel, the fact remains that it is not only a cause of corruption among politicians but it also fosters breaking the law among private contractors, civil servants, and promotes cynicism and selfishness among their constituency. The pork barrel system as it has mutated over the years, is so thoroughly rotten, so totally without merit or fiscal logic, that it must be eliminated completely.
Just how thoroughly corrupt and counterproductive the pork barrel has become is best illustrated by what foreign observers say of our politicians. Even jaded types point out that while the Philippines is far from being unusual in having so many politicians and contractors out to skim funds from the pork barrel, the greed of our politicians and their friends is without equal. There is simply no end to it. And reports such as those of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism indicate that the skimming of percentages has become quite institutionalized on a national level. Foreigners will tell any Filipino who will listen that the problem is that our politicians don't know when to stop, and neither do their friends.
Filipino expatriates who live in countries that also see numerous cases of corruption often say the same thing. The difference between our corruption, for example, and the crookedness that occurs in some of our neighboring countries, is that a P10-million road will be built in another country at a cost of P15 million, while here at home, we get a P1-million road after spending P10 million.
Should Malacañang then argue degrees of utility, with varying shades of ambiguity, when to the rest of us and even some of our politicians who still have a conscience, everything is crystal clear? The pork barrel is bad. It is bad because it transforms public service into an instrument for personal gain and cronyism as well as a source of corruption for both the public and private sectors. It is bad because it diverts our nation's resources into private pockets and by its very nature makes it easier to break the law than follow it. We can obsess on the anatomy of corruption all we want, but until the putrefying flesh is buried once and for all, it will stink.
There are rare times when public opinion is able to inspire our leaders to give up the means to retain power, and these are such times. And yet what do we have, but an administration, which got the ball rolling by calling for a 40-percent cut in the pork barrel, now trying to stop the very momentum it tried to create. The public has to wonder at the kind of leadership that is able to latch on to issues that resonate with the public, only to devote its energies to disproving any benefits from its own proposals.
Could it be that having succeeded in getting the Filipino people interested in addressing the looming financial crisis, Malacañang is now afraid of the results?
posted by Dante at 11:00 AM
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