The battle against pork isn’t over–Cayetano
LINGAYEN—While Senator Alan Peter Cayetano lauded President Bengino Aquino III’s decision to scrap pork barrel as announced in Malacanang last Friday, he stressed that the battle over the corrupt-ridden fund is far from over.
Cayetano, who was in the province Friday and met with Gov. Amado Espino Jr., said it is crucial now to push for the “RIP Pork” campaign, which stands for Reveal, Investigate, Prosecute.
“Until everything is revealed, something (anomaly) can still be found. In our country, when no one is jailed, the system is not changed,” he said.
Cayetano added that the investigation of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Ombudsman — and possibly by the Senate if his proposal for an inquiry to be headed by Senator Panfilo Lacson is approved — should lead to the prosecution and punishment of those guilty of misappropriating the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the official name of the pork barrel.
“Now the link is up to Janet Napoles only, no link yet to the legislator,” he noted.
Cayetano also said he wants the public’s planned August 26 march against pork to push through and “it would already be a victory march and they should continue the pressure until they see in black and white that our budget is pork-free”.
“So while I congratulate the President, I think vigilance is still the name of the game. We should continue to ensure that the pork is really dead otherwise it might resurrect,” he said.
The President announced Friday that he is abolishing the PDAF, which has long been tainted as a source of corruption.
Cayetano gave credit to what he called “the new people power” that used social media as well as traditional media to push for the abolition of pork barrel.
He said he is hoping that with the 2014 budget, “if we pass the resolution abolishing the pork in both Houses and we would be tied, there would be no more lump sum in the budget, projects would be equalized in the entire country, no one would be favored and this would be properly guarded.”
Meanwhile, Espino expressed support for Cayetano’s proposed line-item budgeting to replace the pork barrel.
The governor said the new system will put a stop to ghost projects as appropriations will be specified.—Eva Visperas and Johanne R. Macob
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