WHAT ARE WE IN POWER FOR? THE plunge to the bottom of the image of Filipino lawmakers has made Filipinos more cynical about the government as a whole and politicians in general. Of the two major national parties in our country during the post WW II period, the Liberal Party, more than the Nacionalista Party, was always the more corrupt in the eyes of our people. It was an LP leader, Senate President Jose Dira Avelino of Samar, who became notorious for saying “What are we in power for?” Avelino had spoken in Spanish and said “Para que estamos en poder?” at an LP caucus precisely called to discuss how to combat allegations of corrupt doings by LPs–including the incumbent President Elpidio Quirino. Perhaps the notoriety of this quotation has unjustly erased all the good things that Avelino did and stood for from the time he was a contemporary of Manuel L. Quezon. He, for instance, authored the Workmen’s Compensation Act and other laws good for the people and our Repbublic. Today’s Liberal Party, however, cannot possibly be excused for its crimes against our nation and its betrayal of our Republic and the Constitution. President B. S. C. Aquino 3rd, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, and others in the top leadership of the LP used government money to bribe congressmen and senators to impeach and oust former Chief Justice Renato Corona. They abused the pork barrel. They invented the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and illegally used DAP funds. They have allowed the Philippine National Police to become a den of thieves in high officers’ uniforms and positions. Under their watch smuggling in the Bureau of Customs have multiplied six times that of the average amount lost to smuggling during the terms of President Estrada and President Macapagal-Arroyo. President Aquino, supported by the LP bigwigs, is undermining the rule of law, trashing the Supreme Court and the Judiciary. Aquino, supported by LP congressmen and senators have taken over the “power over the purse” that the Constitution grants Congress precisely to keep the balance of power among the three branches of government. This is happening because the lawmakers that make up the vast majority in both houses of Congress are corrupt and would rather get personal profit through Malacañang Palace than preserve the common good. manilatimes.net/category/opinion/
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 04:34:33 +0000
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