Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Pork Barrel 9: Are PH Government Institutions Ready for Cleansing?

A friend, Vince Lazatin, convenor of the Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), posted some provocative questions in his fb wall yesterday. Vince asked,
Are our government institutions ready to handle the PDAF cases against some of the country's most powerful personalities? Are our government lawyers up to the task of facing the most expensive defense attorneys that money can buy? Will the chips be allowed to fall where they may?  
These PDAF cases will put everyone to the test, including non-government actors such as the media, the citizens, and NGOs/CSOs. There will be people who will rise as beacons of hope, while others will spiral into a vortex of infamy.
People, are we ready to see this to the very end? Or will we recede into the anonymity of our daily lives and concede the future of this country to apathy and indifference? Our future rests squarely in what we are willing to accept and what we are willing to fight for.

In short, are Philippine government institutions and the public ready for social and political cleansing? Good and direct question, but I doubt if people are ready to hear the likely answers to those questions.

Are our government institutions ready to handle the PDAF cases against some of the country's most powerful personalities?
NO.

Are our government lawyers up to the task of facing the most expensive defense attorneys that money can buy?
NO.

Will the chips be allowed to fall where they may?
NO.

People, are we ready to see this to the very end?
NO.

All stealing by some (or many) legislators will not be possible without the participation of all Executive agencies where the money is supposed to be spent. Also with participation by some (or many) COA auditors as this crime has been happening not just a few years ago, but several decades ago.

Many in the public themselves -- NGOs, CSOs, people's organizations (POs), media, consultants -- are indirect beneficiaries of this crime. Some or many of them were the conduits, or the "I see nothing wrong in exchange for money", of this large-scale money laundering and plunder.

I suggested a campaign for a back to P2 trillion budget. It’s nearly P2.3 trillion this year, and likely to reach P2.6 trillion next year. There is no reason to keep the budget rising by around P300 billion a year and borrowing the same amount yearly, while the public debt stock keep rising by P400-450 billion a year, even if many of this money is wasted, if not outrightly stolen.
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