Punchline
Garapalan and Paldwa-an among Onor-onors
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
The recent brazen attempt of some Dagupan City councilors to allocate for themselves P10 million in pork barrel (evidently as despedida gift and a chance to recoup their campaign expenses) through the last minute passage of a supplemental budget, just two weeks before they leave their jobs, smacks of insensitivity and callousness. Garapalan talaga!
Of course, it didn’t come as a surprise to me that the session was presided over by my favorite chief Onor-onor Teofilo Guadiz III.
Their attempt to conspire against the interests of the city is symptomatic of how pork barrel has completely corrupted our public officials and our governance system, from the national to the local level.
With the exception of a few who sincerely wanted more funds to complete their pending projects, most did not even have the gumption to define what projects they intend to pursue with the P300,000 they are gifting themselves with. Garapalan talaga!
They just can’t ever have enough of “transactional legislation” (the familiar term they use is paldwa-an). It is the kind of legislation that made the anomalous construction of the market, purchase of streetlights, dredging machine, and most recently, the construction of the tourism complex at the Magsaysay Park, possible.
I’m certainly grateful that most of those who attended the session (with the exception perhaps of Alex de V who made it a point to account for all the monies he received from his pork barrel allocations) will no longer be in a position to impose themselves on the hapless city residents since they lost their reelection bids.
To those who will continue to serve but who have since demonstrated that they are motivated mainly by “paldwa-an” in the city council, we will continue to watch you keenly.
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“OUST-JDV” IS ABOUT PORK BARREL. The plot to oust Speaker Joe de V in the House of Representatives that many congressmen of the 13th Congress vehemently denied to be in existence, finally surfaced and this time with faces and warm bodies to boot.
What many thought was a mere ploy to improve negotiating leverage for committee assignments is in fact a no-holds-barred effort to dislodge Pangasinan’s Joe de V. The duo, Pablo Garcia (no blood relation to him) and Luis Villafuerte are the real McCoy in the oust movement. But the motive is suspect.
The irony of it all is that the Speaker now finds himself the primary target victim of his own creation, the Frankenstein that is pork barrel!
Yes, the Garcia-Villafuerte tandem is now moving heaven and earth to enlist more congressmen, particularly in the opposition, with promises of more pork for admin lawmakers, and restoration of lost pork for the opposition!
It appears that certain “favorite” congressmen under the Speaker’s wings have been cornering the major bulk of pork barrel releases and both Garcia and Villafuerte can’t wait to cut them off.
So you see, it’s really all a proxy war for pork barrel! Forget about talks of need for a new vision, a new brand of leadership, a reform agenda, etc.
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A DREAM LEGACY FOR JDV. Speaking of JDV’s legacy, he is now known as the godfather of pork barrel, a label that should connote an effort to hasten development in the countryside but unfortunately, that is not the case. With the way pork barrel has been and is being dispensed by lucky souls in government, it’s now the antithesis to good and honest governance. It is the root of all evil in governance.
Of course, senators, congressmen, local executives, contractors (and everyone in the food supply chain who pocket as much as 45% of project costs) will always swear by the “positive impact” of the pork barrel. They will defend the nobility of pork barrel as an instrument for development, to death).
But notably, the Pinoy voter took the last election as an opportunity to manifest his disgust with the pork barrel culture. He didn’t have second thoughts re-electing Senator Ping Lacson, the lone senator who shunned his pork barrel for two terms, and Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes, he who vowed to reject his P200 M pork barrel allocation if elected.
The signs are on the wall, Mr. Speaker. Keep the pork barrel if you will, but institute major reforms for its dispensation -and most importantly, embrace the reforms by example.
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As I have no doubt that Speaker Joe de V will continue his reign as Speaker, I certainly wish he would take his last term as his last chance to change public’s perception of him and the evil pork barrel. How I wish he would seek to restore the true rationale for pork barrel by introducing true reforms. Forget charter change.
What kind of a pork barrel system can he brings about that would speak of good governance?
Let’s start with accountability. The sponsoring legislator (senator, congressman, board member or councilor) must first to be held accountable for any defect or deficiency in the delivery of service or infrastructure. Accountability in this case should mean the legislator will be ready to face any investigation on the evident defect or deficiency that can lead to the filing or a case for violation of anti-graft law.
The senior official of the lead implementing agency must be held accountable for the performance of his agency and the chosen contractor. The same sanction applicable to the legislators, as government employees, must apply.
The Commission on Audit official assigned to the project must also be held accountable in case he is found to have filed an erroneous report on the project that helped cover up the defective delivery of the product.
The private contractor must be held accountable, by guaranteeing to replace or correct defects under the pain of reimbursing government at least 50% of the cost of the project, should he fail to correct delivery within a prescribed period. In addition, a perpetual ban of the officers of the contractor’s company from participating in any pork barrel program, must be imposed.
The members of the bidding committee should also be made accountable, subjecting them to legal cases, if proven to have had a hand in the fixing of bidding.
Then transparency. All contracts and communications about any pork barrel project must be made available to any citizen, particularly media.
A reformed pork barrel is the best legacy that Speaker Joe de V can leave this country. This legacy, when achieved, will inevitably result only in the learned and the articulate to seek election as senator and congressman.
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METROSTATE, THE SQUATTER. My favorite Dagupan Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III, in a surprise turnaround two weeks ago, practically called his cousins Mark and Alex Siapno as squatters on a city property.
Being the brilliant lawyer that he professes to be, I challenge him now to put his money where his mouth is by filing a case against the city mayor, the resigned city legal officer and the city engineer for allowing the construction without the permit. Better still, why not file for a TRO to block the construction? I’ll bet he won’t do either.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)
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