CAUGHT IN A WEB OF LIES ‘President Noynoy Aquino finds himself today in the center of the pork barrel scandal, along with other politicians in the misuse of billions from the public coffers.’ PRESIDENT Noynoy Aquino has entangled himself in a web of lies of his own making in connection with the schemes of Janet Lim Napoles, alleged “brains of the pork barrel scam,” along with other politicians accused of having connived with her in the scandalous misuse of billions of their allocations from the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF, better known as the pork barrel system in the annual national budget. First of all, when the people --- my “Bosses” as Aquino called them when he assumed the presidency in 2010 –- demanded the abolition of the pork barrel last month, he at first justified its existence because it enabled lawmakers to identify and to financially support projects of local governments in their districts as well as programs of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).”Walang masama sa polisiyang ito…,” as he put it in Tagalog. (There’s nothing wrong with this policy.) But when the angry cries of the people against the pork barrel became louder and louder in marches at the Luneta and prayer vigils at the EDSA Shrine and in churches all over the nation, and in universities and colleges, Aquino quickly turned around and announced that he ordered the practice of doling out the pork barrel funds to the lawmakers stopped. He said this would prevent abuses in PDAF spending. Instead, he and his political eminence grise, Budget Secretary Butch Abad, changed the pork barrel fund, without a name, as “line item budgeting for projects” of lawmakers. That is, the Executive Department will still finance the pet projects of senators and congressmen, but these will be subjected to “closer scrutiny for accountability purposes.” Many independent lawmakers brushed off Aquino’s new mechanism to replace the pork barrel system as “same dog, different collar.” Or, as one political observer cynically put it, “What Aquino did in effect about abolishing the PDAF was he took with his left hand what he gave with his right hand… He just tightened his grip on the members of Congress and they would now be easier to control!” That was Aquino’s first lie. The next one was his claim, through his mealy-mouthed spokespersons, that he didn’t know Janet Lim Napoles and her daughter Jeane. This was belied by a photograph of Aquino smiling with Jeane taken during a private function in Cebu City. The photograph has been going viral in social media with a caption “na buking!” (in English, “exposed!”), according a colleague in columny. And he also revealed that Mrs. Napoles wrote a letter to Aquino last April 17, long before the pork barrel scam came out in the newspapers, to protest the arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation of her brother for the alleged kidnapping of Benhur Luy, who has now became her accuser in the current Senate probe of the pork barrel scam. And she informed him that a huge amount of money was demanded of her. The very next day, Aquino asked his Secretary of Justice de Lima to investigate the NBI regarding Napoles’ allegations. Not only this, as other media pundits have noted, Aquino obviously knew Napoles as shown by the fact that he himself accepted Napoles’ surrender in the middle of the night at Malacañang Palace. And then he even escorted her to the Philippine National Police headquarters across the city, which, again, belied his claim that he didn’t know her. And still another lie, as revealed by one media critic, was that Napoles, before she surrendered that night, actually had lunch that same day with him, together with some Cabinet secretaries and police security officers in Malacañang. Of course, Aquino, just like those lawmakers accused of misusing their pork barrel allocations, has his own pork barrel funds, too, as a congressman and a senator and now as president. Questions have been asked, how did he distribute those funds? Did he use Napoles-type arrangements? And is it true, as claimed by a youth group, composed of university students who joined the anti-pork barrel mass rallies and prayer vigils, called “Youth Act Now,” that P100-million from Aquino’s presidential P72.11 billion “stimulus funds” or pork barrel went to six Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) tagged as “bogus”? And now, we’re seeing signs of unrest in the ranks of the military establishment, too. A group called Reformist Officers United (ROU) has issued a manifesto declaring its stand to “save the country from further ruin…”, obviously in reference to the anti-pork barrel scandal, and portraying the Aquino administration as infested by “corruption, plunder, arrogance and incompetence.” It carried the signatures of officers from all commands in the military establishment, including the Philippine Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and the NBI and other civilian security agencies. And their manifesto even described the present Aquino government as “… no different from his mother’s regime, characterized by callous, shenanigans, and propped up by endless but questionable popularity surveys.” There you are. The angry voices of the people are sweeping in all political, civic, religious sectors of society, demanding the immediate abolition of the PDAF or pork barrel funds in whatever name Aquino and his compliant officials may call it now. And now there are rumblings in independent congressional circles about Aquino’s lack of political will to end corruption in government, apart from murmurings about the filing of an impeachment complaint against him. After three years, two months and 17 days in power, Aquino faces today, in the words of one keen political critic, “a monumental crisis of credibility and confidence that could make your administration completely irrelevant and make you as an absolute political lame duck.” Indeed, as I noted in this column exactly seven days ago, he is the “most embarrassing of all presidents of our lifetime.” Mr. President, your “Bosses” have spoken! *** Quote of the Day: “Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God!” – Anonymous Commenter Thought of the Day: “There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away!” – Winston S. Churchill - See more at: malaya.ph/business-news/opinion/caught-web-lies#sthash.pHOMm3tF.g7xSTgMw.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 02:51:54 +0000
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