Are we serious? Is the LP serious about eradicating graft and corruption? Wangwangg is the symbol of abuse of power. Eradicating abuse does not end by the simple example of getting the wangwang out of the vehicles. It is about the ability to eradicate the ability to misuse of the funds supposedly intended for the people. Was it not that GMA was able to abuse the people because she used the pork as a bait and a bribe to legislators, who in turn abuse their own powers by raiding the coffers of the government via the same pork barrel? Where will trapos ever recoup the tremendous expense to buy out votes in the elections if not for the same pork?
The biblical way of helping your brother is not to give him fish nor pork. It is by teaching him how to catch fish. The role of the legislator is examine the budget presented by the executive department to help the people help themselves. The role of the government was never to give dole outs which will only perpetuate the culture of patronage politics.
The House is not in order and we have a reason to protest.
The return of pork, pigs and wangwang in the House is now seen by the exodus and swearing in of former GMA loyalists (who junked the Hello Garci scandal investigation) to the LP . Why should those Congressmen ever be loyal to GMA without the pork? Why should they be loyal to President Aquino without the same pork? The loyalty is not about the presidency nor the party but about access to the pork. Scrap the pork and scrutinize every budget line by line and you will have eradicated pigs and corruption in the House. Scrap the pork and you will have prevented unlimited junkets abroad by these pigs in the House. How will President Aquino prosecute the crooks now joining his own party if membership is devoid of screening and done in a manner like changing diapers?
We were supposed to line up a program of projects properly debated by Congress. How will pork ever be properly programmed to solve poverty and employment problems if it is prepared at the sole prerogative of the same shameless Congressmen now bragging to be new members of the LP? This party is supposed to promise reform in the government.
You can prepare pork adobo, baby back ribs, barbecue, etc. but it is still the same pork. The truth of the matter is that the LP has done a great disservice to the country by playing the same politics of tradition and convenience. It shall have forgotten it's duty to listen to the people about what they truly need. Forget about the legislative agenda of the people and the President. It is still the same pork and pig system and nobody needs a debate in the House. Only a division of spoils.
Tell me, who is the boss? The pigs or the people? If it is the people, then listen to them for a national program of government which are designed to improve the lives of the people and not haphazardly prepared projects of congressmen designed to please constituents and win votes via patronage with corruption always practiced by identifying favored contractors. For how can transparency be possible if the contract is already done lotong Macao? For how can line departments at the DPWH refuse partymates of the LP and the card bearing allies of the President? Think LP, think. This country is not devoid of good talents but talents are wasted because you surrender the membership of the party to the same allies of GMA, the same perpetrators of a corrupt regime which plundered this nation for too long a time.
If we really wanted change, we should have been wary about the way the government funds have been plundered and wasted and we know that it was done the way of pork and pigs. If we really wanted change, then we must put an end to elective officials who were a part of the plunder and abuse of politicians allied to the previous regime. The LP may have forgotten but we have not forgotten. if they did, then the amnesia about the sins committed against the people which Noynoy promised not to forget is now plain and shameful lip service. WHY? DO WE REALLY THINK GMA DID THOSE THINGS ALL BY HER LONESOME? Common, have we not learned from the experience of the return Marcos loyalists in the Cory administration? The next order of battle for the LP are these loyalists of GMA in the 2013 elections, so who will you go against then, later if not for those who genuinely wanted change on the leadership in the next local elections?
We are not finished with trapos and we are not finished with scrutinizing even the party we entrusted to help the President. There is hope for the country and the LP though, if we learn to be vigilant.There is a fragrance for change in the air, but we will never be able to keep it if we simply sleep all day long because the devil is just there waiting for the next false move. There is a need therefore, to claim our price for attempting to dream for reform in the government. The price means our voices to be heard because we, the people are sovereign. Let not Noynoy believe that he has no defenders in us in case that House attempt to threaten him with impeachment to get the pork that they want. The pork is the peoples money and the people needs a legitimate program and a debate to know where and how it is going to be spent. Noynoy needs to listen to the people first, consolidate their voices and make a program and submit such program for debate in the House. No shortcuts please. Let the House make an intelligent debate so we can participate through public hearings and in Noynoy's inaguration promise of creating a system of consultation and feedback. "They are not the Boss. We are the Boss.", Noynoy claimed. So why should the Boss be at the mercy of the autocratic discretion of these legislators, who cannot be trusted in the first place?
We cannot be too shortsighted and the name of the game is eternal vigilance. Tuloy ang Laban! If the LP choose those crooks now, then let the LP be the enemy.
Start small, think big. Keep the faith, make the difference. Kaya ng Dios, Kaya Natin!
( Copy furnished Benigno Aquino III @ Facebook, Noynoy Aquino for President Movements: Cagayan de oro, Bohol, New York, Kaya Natin Movement, The editor in Chief, Mindanao Gold Star Daily