THE women’s group GABRIELA said that the President was predictably silent on his own unprogrammed funds constituting his own Pork Barrel.
“What applies to one must apply to all,” said Joms Salvador, Secretary General of GABRIELA. “Thus, the President’s own Pork Barrel must also be abolished.”
Salvador said that the President’s statement conveniently zeroed in on the legislators PDAF while skirting the issue involving his own Pork which amounts to billions of pesos in the 2014 proposed budget. “He merely aims to douse the flames of dissent against the pork barrel at an early stage before it conflagrates into big-time protests and result to an expose of his own administration’s corruption.”
She said that the move is part of a script created by Aquino’s political spin-doctors, much like a predictable telenovela. “The real life politica-novela has designated a kontrabida in the person of Janet Lim Napoles, complete with cohorts and sidekicks in Congress and in NGOs, while Aquino fancies himself as the bida emerging in the end to save the day. Now we expect the axe to come down on Aquino’s opposition in Congress and not on his allies. Meanwhile, tuloy ang ligaya for Aquino and his own gang of porkies.”
She also said that the general public must remain vigilant and diligently watch closely as the PDAF funds are distributed to different line items of various agencies because this does not automatically mean that the funds will go to various social services that will directly benefit the people. “Aquino’s dogged pursuance of the neo-liberal policies imposed by imperialist financial institutions since time immemorial will ensure that big businesses and their own cohorts in the government rather than the ordinary citizens will benefit.”
“We will definitely purse the demand for the abolition of the President’s own Pork Barrel and through Gabriela Women’s Party and other progressive partylists in Congress, the transfer of the PDAF to various line agencies’ budget will be subject to scrutiny to ensure that the greater majority of the people, which comprise their constituents, will be at the winning end,” the group said.
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