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Pork Barrel

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Pork Barrel Scam

Submitted by:
Paula Danielle Loberiza

Submitted to:
Mr. Emmanuel Bolaños

Pork Barrel Scam
Pork barrel is the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or the term pork barrel politics usually refers to spending, which is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes. In the popular 1863 story "The Children of the Public", Edward Everett Hale used the term pork barrel as a homely metaphor for any form of public spending to the citizenry. After the American Civil War, however, the term came to be used in a derogatory sense. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the modern sense of the term from 1873.primarily to bring money to a representative's district.

Pork Barrel is never a new concept. In fact, the Philippines may just have patterned the concept and idea from the world’s practices .Pork barrel and Janet Lim- Napoles are two inseparable terms now in the Philippines. The government’s chief auditor reported that a dozen senators and scores of congressmen had directed billions in pork-barrel money into fishy NGOs over three years. The money (given to members of Congress to spend in their constituencies on projects of their own choosing) was disbursed during Mrs. Arroyo’s term. But Mr. Aquino’s first reaction was to defend the pork-barrel scheme. That is because he is at the apex of the Philippines’ pyramid of political patronage, so has the final say on whether other politicians get their pork. When he was member of Congress, he received pork-barrel funds. In the absence of an effective political party system, the pork-barrel arrangement gives Mr. Aquino a degree of influence over Congress. The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), a government program, has institutionalized pork barrel in the Philippines. Each of its 24 senators receives 200m pesos ($4.5m) per year and each of its 300-odd congressmen receives 70m pesos ($1.6m). The scheme has its merits. Roads get paved. Poor students receive scholarships. Politicians are supposed to use the fund to finance their pet projects, but some use it to enrich themselves at public expense. The arrangement shores up a political establishment made of powerful families that monopolize elective positions generation after generation.

Pork barrel' scam issue sparks online outrage and flak. Janet Lim-Napoles now centered on controversy is the alleged 'brains' behind the P10-billion scam or miss-use of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) by some lawmakers and the P900-million Malampaya Fund issues. This scandalous pork barrel issue is history in the making. It is a problem and it is bigger than what it seems. Imagine how many senators, congressmen and government agencies are allegedly involved in it? How can they have processed the projects without knowing that they gave our money to a fake NGO that didn’t even deliver? How could the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Commission on Audit (COA) have approved the many transactions that took place under their very noses?
So who should be held accountable? Why is everyone all of a sudden washing their hands on the issue? As a matter of fact, there is even a strong effort to silence this whole issue because there are too many of them involved. The naturally outspoken Napoles has also been silenced. Well, actually I think it is the other way around. They don’t want her to speak because she might turn against all of them. So these imbeciles are not hard on her.
This case is clearly a model of a perfect crime. The perfect example of corruption and malversation of government funds where every paper work and trail has been studied with the right connections in the different agencies to get the processed approved released and shared to the hogs. Nothing can beat this case. Nothing! No one will ever be convicted because there are no traces of evidence that corruption has taken place. It is the greatest deal yet so far in the history of this country.
The question of the hour is: Should the congressional Pork be stopped? The two houses are already divided on the issue. Do they give up or not their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and just concentrate on legislative work? “ Ang Daang Matuwid “ , every Filipino trust this President’s promise. Truly, the Philippines has been regarded as the most corrupt country in the world. With this promise, the Filipinos , put their trust and confidence that under the Aquino administration , corruption will be minimized as countrywide development and progress would be the top priority of the government . Filipinos sees the light of hope, that someday, that the Philippines will be a more progressive and economically stable. This is evident, in the popularity rating of the President which even reaches 70 % approval rating.

People now are cally to ultimately stop the pork barrel or the PDAF. Actually Janet Lim Napoles NGO’s may have been used only by our Senators and Congressmen for their malicious intentions of the government’s fund.
Will the President order that the Pork barrel or PDAF be abolished? I don’t think so. I agree with other Filipinos that it will just be repackaged in a new name, but will never be abolished. This is a challenge to the President, if he is rearing toward the daang matuwid .

As the investigations progress, Filipinos will still have to face many revelations , revelations that may anger them , who knows , the voice of the people can never be underestimated . What happened now, is really a realization that daang matuwid is just an imaginary concept . Corruption is still causing many Filpinos to suffer , causing many Filipinos to leave their family in order to work abroad so as to give a decent life to their family .

The Senators and Congressmen will continue to cheat the Filipino people ? There could still be many Janet Lim Napoles . I hope the President will really have to decide what is beneficial to the majority of the Filipino people and not only for the welfare of the chosen few .

May the President hear , every Filipino’s voice “ No to Pork Barrel “ !

Reference: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=621244057915699&id=604272216279550 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priority_Development_Assistance_Fund_scam http://www.studymode.com/essays/Reaction-Paper-On-Pork-Barrel-Scam-39263491.html http://ph.news.yahoo.com/8-opinions-pdaf-scam-know-012118372.html

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