Still on the ‘pork barrel’

EDITORIAL

The scam involving the ‘pork barrel’ of legislators which includes senators and congressmen is of grave magnitude that the public is still clamoring for justice and prosecution of those involved in it.

Lately, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in a statement said the Filipino people should press for accountability of all those involved in the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

Bayan stated filing of plunder and graft charges against Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile and Janet Napoles who was dubbed as “pork queen” and other government officials was not surprising . “It would appear to be the logical outcome of the series of revelations and investigations that began last year.”

Recently, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended filing of plunder cases against the three senators. The recommended charges were against Estrada who was alleged of getting P183.79 million kickbacks, Enrile who was said to have gotten P172 million out of the scheme  and Revilla Jr. who has been alleged as receiving P224.5 million. 

Napoles on the other hand, who now being eyed as a Stsate witness was charged with plunder,malversation and corruption of public officials. She was alleged to have  used non-existing non-government organizations to pilfer people's money from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of the members of the Congress and Senate.

“The big question remains though, when will the other conspirators in the pork scam be charged?” asked the militant organization. It posed another question if when allies or party mates of President Benigno Aquino III also involved in the PDAF scam would be made accountable.

Bayan stated that failure to charge Aquino's allies would taint the whole endeavor as a politically motivated partisan exercise. The statement added that failure to charge Aquino's allies would mean that the president's “daang matuwid” (straight path) is selective in its application.

“Failure to investigate the pork transactions done beyond 2009, or during Aquino’s term in office, will highlight the lack of seriousness in going after crooks in government,” added Bayan.

The organization stated that any talk of purging and cleansing within the Senate is hypocritical considering that the pork has not been removed from the national budget.

Bayan said that it would be a shame if others involved in the pork scam would not be made accountable. Bayan called on the people to demand that the system of pork which it said is a system of patronage and corruption be truly abolished. “This includes not just congressional pork but also the much bigger presidential pork, made concrete with such entities like the Disbursement Acceleration Program.”