Bigger disaster

 

THE province’s disaster preparedness and response system was once again put to the test last week with the torrential rains brought by Typhoon Maring, the second major storm in as many weeks. And it passed with flying colors based on how people were evacuated on time and ample assistance extended to those affected. Pats on the back are in order. But the story does not end there. Weather patterns have undeniably changed and long-term projects need to be planned and implemented by local governments to address nature’s altering moods. For one, zone-assignments for urban and rural areas will have to be reviewed to ensure that those prone to and at serious risk of natural calamities are minimized rather than expanded.

There is hardly any comfort in being in an evacuation center and in such conditions, the least that government can do is to ensure that the basic needs are delivered, including crucial health services, which is what calamity funds are mainly intended for. Needless to say, this allocation, just like all public resources, must be used judiciously. Shame on all those politicians who treat calamity situations and use the allocated funds as if in a campaign for advancing political ambitions. Neither should calamity funds be handled as an opportunistic excuse to access public funds for corrupt intents.

We have seen this happen and one glaring example is how the calamity funds worth more than P13.1 million was accessed by Dagupan City officials under then Mayor Benjamin Lim in October 2011. without a declaration of a state of calamity from the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP). Corruption in calamity funds makes for a double disaster and the bigger disaster is the one that is man-made.

The exposure of the P10-billion pork barrel scam has ignited anger among Filipinos and they are now more conscious about public expenditures. Local government officials must account fully and truthfully on how calamity funds were spent.

 

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Ping prophesy

 

TEN years ago, then Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson delivered a privilege speech in the Senate entitled, “Living Without Pork”. He emphasized the beauty of seeing all lawmakers shy away from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), more popularly known as the pork barrel. But they all looked the other way, save for Joker Arroyo. Ping’s pork barrel that he had tenaciously rejected for 12 years as a senator amounted to P2.4 billion.

Today, the pork barrel is wracked by a monumental scandal following a reported P10-billion scam that siphoned off funds from 5 senators and 23 congressmen into ghost projects allegedly masterminded by one Janet Napoles-Lim over a 3-year period ending 2009. As we go to press, Napoles-Lim is still in hiding. The Ping prophesy of the pork barrel “dragging down everybody” one day into debilitating depths of destitution and corruption has now become a stark, horrific, reality.

Here’s also a salute to Alan Peter Cayetano, the Senate majority floor leader, who nominated Lacson to investigate the P10-B scam “because of Ping’s impeccable record against corruption and his unwavering stand against the pork barrel.” In his resolution appointing Lacson, Cayetano said, “The blue ribbon committee needs an independent and credible special investigator who can assist it to ferret out the truth, pursue leads, and find evidence so that the guilty can be charged and the innocent can clear their names…”

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