TRIBUNE: P-NOY EMBRACING THE 'WANG-WANG' CULTURE
MANILA, JULY 30, 2011 - (TRIBUNE) FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares - Noynoy claims to be treading the straight path and has even called on the nation to do away with what he calls the "wang-wang" culture representing abuse of power and privilege. He says that as president, his vision is the nation's social transformation. He also says that he is there to strengthen the institutions and even speaks even of instilling independence in such institutions.
But what he says is not necessarily what he does, that's for certain.
Noynoy called for an end to corruption, yet he and his aides are heavy into corrupting the House of Representatives by dangling the congressional pork barrel release in exchange for the swift passage of his proposed national budget.
But if, as he claims, he wants to strengthen the institutions, one of which is the House, whose members are said to be representatives of the people, why is he resorting to bribery and further corrupting the already corrupt congressmen? Why should there be a quid pro quo for the congressmen's pork barrel, when this is what is really due them, as allocated in the national budget?
Why is he using the pork barrel carrot to get what he wants — and what he wants is definitely for the House not to even scrutinize the budget, but pass it as is — with absolutely no cuts. Is this what his claimed daang matuwid is all about? Is this what an "honest" and "transparent" administration does and is this what he claims is good governance through bribery and corruption?
This is not Noynoy's first try at bribing and corrupting the House members. He has done it twice over, the first being the bribe to congressmen to vote for the impeachment of the then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, and the second was the bribe to congressmen to vote for the postponement of the elections of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
That he has used this vile and corrupt practice has been proved when several congressmen, among whom was Rep. Toby Tiangco, complained of their not having received their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) while the others already got theirs, the reason being that Tiangco and others voted no on the two measures that Noynoy wanted passed. They got zero pork, while others who voted yes to one, but no to another, got ony half of their PDAF, while the rest who voted the way Noynoy wanted them to vote, got their release.
The third time around came just the other day, when the Speaker, Sonny Belmonte, with media present, asked the Budget secretary to release the PDAF of the congressmen to ensure the swift passage of the P1.8-trillion budget. But why is there that need to ensure the swift passage which really means that in exchange, the House is not to scrutinize the budget but to pass it quickly without cuts, just as it did for last year's budget?
If the budget were above board and can be justified by Malacañang, why does it need to bribe the members of the House with the release of their 2010 PDAF?
And it is not only the House that is being corrupted by the self proclaimed "honest and clean" Noynoy. Even the senators were given additional pork — some P30 million each, taken from the Road Board Tax — and it certainly was said to be in exchange for a yes vote to the ARMM poll postponement, where Congress gave Noynoy the power to appoint OICs in what should be elective offices.
Isn't that the mark of the wang-wang culture embedded in the top official of the land, who has the gall to even denounce such wang-wang culture that he himself practices?
And should the nation say to Noynoy and his prostituted congressmen, thank you, for screwing us again and again while hypocritically calling for social transformation?
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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