9/25/14 FEDERICO D. PASCUAL, JR., THE ISKOLAR NG BAYAN , A GOOD ABAD. AND THE JBC BAKIT CHALLENGE. Dick’s pen is at it again, disseminating opinions which inflame even as they mislead. In his Philippine Star September 23, 2014 column entitled “Can Noy Still Escape From Palace Cabal?”, he decks the DAP anew by writing: “To go straight to the point, we think President Aquino – who accepted the Liberal Party nomination in 2010 despite his limitations – has become a captive of an LP cabal that has been using him to make money and consolidate more power for themselves. They invented, for instance, the Disbursement Acceleration Program, a secret mechanism for funneling billions in forced savings into a presidential pork barrel. They misled the President to think that DAP was perfectly legal and served public good since it would accelerate disbursement of public funds to spur economic development. Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, the architect of this criminal scheme, could not have been unaware that it was against the Constitution and should have told the President. Yet, he misled the President to think that it was perfectly legal provided they could cite good faith. Never mind that the supposedly good intentions included bribing lawmakers to do their bidding and amassing and amassing billions for the party war chest. To make sure President Aquino could not back out, they made him sign incriminating papers covering the disbursements. Officials of the Commission on Audit and Abad himself have testified that the papers authorizing the DAP releases were signed by the President.” To go straight to the point, every single sentence of the foregoing stinks for being nothing but opinions and conclusions, and factually baseless since the writer is incompetent, i.e. he has no personal knowledge of the facts, upon which he based his conjectures. The submissions cannot be validated by conveniently prefixing them with the phrase “we think”. Even this is itself baseless. Who are the “we” that he was referring to? He could have been more forthright had he simply stated “I think”. But then he is not alone in this mindset. A lot of calumnists justify their opinions by vicariously citing “the people”, “a lot of people”, “ang taong bayan”, and similar such phrases, as the source of their opinions even as it is highly doubtful whether or not they indeed consulted even just a few people before writing their piece in the first place. If ever Aquino accepted the Liberal Party nomination it was clearly because, as it was so apparent, of popular acclamation. And, if he ran and was elected despite his limitations, why fault him or his party? But, then every candidate, being human, will always have limitations. Two ex-presidents did not have the limitations imputed upon pnoy, and they exercised their presidential powers without limitations. How certain is Pascual that (1) there is a cabal, (2) this cabal is for the purpose of making money and consolidate power for themselves and (3) pnoy is a captive of this cabal? It can be conceded that there is a group around the president, but there will always be such a group in any presidency or position of power, whether in the public or private sectors, in the Philippines or any other country. Manuel Pangilinan, for one, is always surrounded by a group of men, as shown on tv. But, it is unfair for Pascual to categorize the liberal party, or any other party, as a cabal for the purpose of amassing money and power, unless he first shows facts that this was indeed so. Why did Pascual deem the DAP as a secret mechanism for funneling billions in forced savings into a presidential pork barrel? As he himself wrote, the disbursements were fully covered by signatures of the President. There were also the various documents signed by the DBM officials, the legislators, the disbursing officers and others through whom the DAP funds were passed. All of these show transparency and not the cloak and dagger stuff that Pascual would make it seem to be. Assuming that the funds were rolled out as a presidential barrel, this would not necessarily be illegal since the pork barrel is embedded not only in our system of governance but even in other countries as well. How could Pascual state that pnoy was indeed misled to thinking that the DAP was legal provided they could cite good intentions that included bribing lawmakers to do their bidding and amassing billions for the party war chest? Did pnoy tell him so or does he have the power to divine the thoughts of others? Was he present when the misleading was being done? On the contrary, the public assurances of pnoy and the cabinet were that the DAP was implemented after much deliberations. So, why would Pascual insist otherwise? With respect to the DAP as a spur for development, in one of the visits of this poster old boy to his home province of Samar, where LP stalwart Mel Sarmiento is a congressman, soon after the SC ruling on the DAP, a barangay sentry (as in tanod) sighed “sayang” about it, explaining that because of the DAP, so many projects not previously undertaken were being done because of the availability of funds: more barangay roads concreted and wharfs constructed even in the smallest barangays in the island towns, most of which were discontinued with the SC ruling. How could he consider the “DAP” as a criminal scheme? Has there been a pronouncement from any competent agency that this was indeed criminal. Is he a lawyer to consider it so or had he consulted a lawyer who told him so? And, if he or that other lawyer did, what is their basis for considering DAP as a criminal scheme? As oft said, it may be bad or immoral but not necessarily criminal. But, then, as often writ, there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. Still there should be a real thing behind the thinking. How could he be sure that “Abad could not have been unaware that it was against the Constitution and should have told the President”. Based on the official explanations, the probabilities and in accordance with ordinary human conduct, pnoy, abad and the rest of the officialdom would not have implemented the DAP had they known that it was illegal or unconstitutional. An exercise of discretion or prerogative in the course of the performance of official duties, by the executive or legislative branches of the government, are presumed to be legal and constitutional until ruled otherwise by the Supreme Court. And, while the Supreme Court has decided on the DAP, which is not yet final, it did not categorically rule that the DAP itself is unconstitutional. Rather, what it ruled as unconstitutional were merely four practices or aspects of the program. The dispositive portion of the decision consists of five terse paragraphs written in clear, ordinary and easy to understand English. Again, in his column today, September 25, 2014, entitled “Disturb the balance, reap the whirlwind”, he freely and profusely cites the hecklers of pnoy at a New York forum. But a lot of these cited statements are not even debatable as they are in fact undeniable, but which can apply to any president and to any country: “A killing is a killing; There are more questions coming from the Filipino people that aren’t being answered. There are so many things that are happening. I looked up to your mother. I am a Filipino woman who saw her as a hero. And what do you do? You want a charter change to extend your presidency? Now I see the reality of what your family has done. I have been to Hacienda Luisita.” These outbursts were just as non-sequiturs as the opinions of Pascual. A killing is a killing. So why blame pnoy? Had there been no killings prior to his presidency? The numbers may have risen but so has the population. The questions that could be asked about anything can only be limited by the capacity of the mind to think, and if a lot of these remain unanswered, why blame pnoy? And, if he wants a charter change, is this wrong? I, and numerous others, should be faulted as well be since I, or we, also want charter change if only to avoid a more dark and dismal scenario of somebody undesirable wresting the presidency. But, more than this, any charter change would be subject to a plebiscite or popular approval, so why deprive the people of a choice and impose one’s will upon them? While the woman (not a lady, since it was unlady-like) professes admiration for Cory as her hero, yet she lambasted pnoy for the realities of what “your” (which should include cory) family had done. She claims to have been to Hacienda Luisita. Had she really? Had Pascual checked if she had? To Pascual’s credit, he considered the hecklers’ shoutings as “their version of the real situation back home”. This is the problem. This was just their version and may not really be the real situation back home. The hecklers were reportedly members of the Gabriela. Considering their apparent youth, it may not be said that they were members of the local chapters of Gabriela who purposely went to New York just to heckle. Rather, they appear to be US residents, if not citizens. So, whatever their version of the situation in the old country could only have been gleaned from others, what they hear and see on tv, what they read in the papers. And, this is the problem. Columnists and commentators who have attained a certain degree of prominence may, as in fact they do, influence the thinking of the impressionable youth. And, if these opinion writers make misleading statements, they would accordingly mislead their readers, including the intractable olds. But, even as Pascual cited verbatim the hecklers, he conveniently omitted pnoy’s reported retorts (as also appearing even in the Star) and that the hecklers simply refused to listen to pnoy’s explanations. In his same column today, Pascual lauds as “the same release of pent up pressure when irate students at the University of the Philippines threw objects and invectives at Budget Secretary Florencio Abad as he went to Diliman to sell his discredited DAPpy theory of disbursement acceleration”. Again, he excoriates Abad for his “stubborn rationalization of his Disbursement Acceleration Program”. But, if anybody is stubborn, it is those who see nothing good in the initiative. The savings in the budget have all along been there, but lying mostly idly. Abad saw how these could be channeled towards more productive purposes, is this wrong? But, then, since the project is labeled as a pork barrel and pork barrel is synonymous with corruption, the DAP was much maligned. But, whether by DAP, pork barrel or any other name, any disbursement of public funds would always be prone to unauthorized diversion. And, if fear of this possibility becomes the norm, this would result in bureaucratic stagnation, with the government’s financial stewards unwilling to come up with innovative systems of moving and using government money lest they be labelled as thefts. And, as repeatedly stated, the scheme envisioned by DAP itself has not been declared unconstitutional; only four aspects of it were. For all the diatribes thrown at him (happily, not yet including boots) Abad has not been known to be a theft. Mareng Winnie should be the first to report if he is so. While reports have been made on his so-called mansion at his home province, this could still be considered as modest and within his means if only for the fact that he, his wife and daughter are graduates of UP (unlike some UP grads who remain penurious to this day. So, those UP Abad hecklers could not but be misinformed, and misinformed to a great extent by those who maliciously foist false information and opinions. Page A20 of the September 23, 2014 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that ”in a statement posted on its Facebook page, Stand UP said that it was the responsibility of the iskolar ng bayan to be the conscience of this nation, the voice of the oppressed, social critics undaunted by adversity and patient agents of social change”. What pompous and presumptuous statements! As a iskolar ng bayan, the only aspiration, duty, responsibility, and zeal is to be so, a scholar ng bayan, to study even if they can claim that protesting is one way of educating. As a taxpayer who subsidizes, even if very minimally, their studies, I expect that these scholars should study, study and nothing more. When they engage in too much extra-curricular activities, they oftentimes leave their parents grieving, while looking for them and shouting justice for them. For these, the misleading opinion molders, whether outside or inside the academe should be partly, if not largely, to be blamed. In the same Inquirer article, Vencer Crisostomo was quoted on the incident. On his fb posts, he takes issues with those who considered the incident as hooliganism. But, then he is no longer a student, so he should be free to display in whatever way he chooses his displeasures and disagreements. It’s good, though, that another Pascual, UP President Alfredo, tries to maintain the balance with his condemnation of the classless acts. The headline of the Philippine Star today is “JBC Challenges SC ruling on Jardeleza”. If those who branded pnoy as arrogant for filing a motion for reconsideration of the SC ruling on the DAP were to be true to form and substance, then they should similarly raise as much hue and cry against the JBC’s filing of a motion for reconsideration, yet more so since the JBC is under the supervision of the SC while pnoy belong to a co-equal and independent body and, just exercising his prerogative under the principle of checks and balances. Methinks, Dick and others of his ilk should check their facts more and balance their opinions accordingly.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 02:46:55 +0000
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