If there’s one lesson we can learn from the Supreme Court’s decision against pork barrel, it’s that we shouldn’t take shortcuts with the Constitution, however tempting and convenient. And for that lesson, now is the best “teaching moment,” as we reel from the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and constitutional checks and balances stand in the way of quick action. x x x One, the high court struck at the heart of what makes pork barrel legally infirm. The power of Congress here is solely to allocate funds—that is, to set policies and priorities through the budget. It cannot decide what specific projects and which contractors will profit from those funds. When the high court refers to “interven[tion in the] post-enactment stages of budget execution,” what it means is political patronage, the power to reward friends and punish enemies. x x x Finally, the high court could have earlier stopped the abuse of the Malampaya Fund when it heard the case of Palawan Bishop Pedro Arigo v. Secretary Eduardo Ermita, but it took the public outrage provoked by the Napoles exposé to make it do what is right. The high court now teaches us that rules must be respected. That is a lesson it should have taught long ago.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 05:53:06 +0000
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