The JLN pork barrel scandal

I hope the story does unfold, I hope that Juan de la Cruz becomes suitably outraged and that public outrage ensures that something is done. If it is, the positive effects on the nation's governance and hence on ite economic progress could be very impressive.

meanwhile, here's the Commission on Audit's report on the disbursement of PDAF for 2007-9 ...

http://www.inquirer.net/napoles/coa-report

The Manila Bulletin today published a comprehensive summary of the COA report:

Meanwhile the Court of Appeals issued an order yesterday to freeze the assets of Janet Lim Napoles, her family members and those of the non-government organizations identified with JLN. Napoles apparently has 107 seperate personal bank accounts.

And Napoles' lawyers are fighting-back:

But Justice Secretary Leila de Lima reminded everyone that even ordinary citizens can arrest Napoles, now wanted by the law on charges of serious illegal detention filed by P10-billion pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy last December.

That would be ideal but do remember that there is a nasty bit of legislation, admittedly subject of a TRO, which can be (ab)used by those in power to silence Juan de la Cruz: the recently passed computer crimes act.

Just so. And now the story has taken another turn with reports of Church officials being in receipt of mis-used "pork barrel" payments...

This story has more twists than a cork-screw! SunStar's online edition published this story today:

And this is fairly damming of the Aquino administration:

People mad at Aquino for not abolishing Pork

On the 26th.

There has been a very inflammatory TV programme, which was actually denounced by the bloggers who leaked the gruesome details
(here, if you have Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/anonymousagainstpdaf?fref=ts
as an attempt to foment another EDSA.

See also here:

http://dulzspeaks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/anonymous-speaks-pork-barrel-scam.html

There are reports of very large "hit" contracts (eg P15M) having been placed. How one would know the truth of this, I cannot say.

I must admit that I thought this one would have been swept under the rug by now, but it continues to gather steam. At the moment, the President is just saying that the PDAF "pork barrel" system should be "better regulated" - one reason being, perhaps, that it originated with his mother, and forms just about the only means whereby the President can influence the Congress - because he or she can withhold the PDAF allocations from the national budget.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/36769-pnoy-rejects-abolition-pork-barrel

Nice op-ed in the Inquirer, here:

http://opinion.inquirer.net/59129/light-of-day

The Philippines is one of the least safe countries to be a journalist: 30 were killed on one day - 23rd November 2009 - in the infamous "Maguidanao Massacre" at the hands of the Ampatuan Clan and their henchmen. This was during the run-up to the Presidential Election and the Ampatuans were supporters of Gloria Arroyo, the then President. Three have been murdered so far this month as reported by the Guardian on 5th August.

Those that don't toe the "party line" are at particular risk but they are in the minority - hence very little credibility is accorded to (single-sourced) press reports here due to their frequent - and sometimes blatant - inaccuracies.

How about this, from yesterday's Inquirer:

Is it any wonder that he is reluctant to abolish a system from which he - as President - is the major beneficiary, by a country mile?

Well, this is no surprise.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/36869-senate-flipflops-probe-pork-barrel-scam

But since five of the Senators implicated in the scam are members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, will they recuse themselves?

Just how much "delicadeza" do they have?

I asked She Who Must be Obeyed if she plans to go on the demo on the 26th (assuming the rain stops). She informed me that she has more respect for a prostitute working in Japan to support her parents than she has for any politician, on the grounds that they are all, without exception, crooks, and turning up to a demo would be a waste of time. (I should point out at this point that she is Filipina and has been Filipina all her life..)

This represents a departure by the President from his earlier position:

http://www.rappler.com/nation/36808-pnoy-holds-release-pork-probe

and here is a very sensible letter to the Inquirer:

.......

First of all, I would like to thank the Inquirer for keeping the public aware of news events that matter. The Inquirer always hits the “bullseye” not only with the news but also with its opinion pieces.

Randy David’s insights in “Watching Janet” (Opinion, 8/15/13) stunned and impressed me. I completely agree with him: “If it is true that the bulk of her wealth came from the conversion of pork barrel allocations, then the bigger crime must lie with the legislators who knowingly used her services. It is they who should be the primary target of public anger.”

1. The senators and congressmen ought to exercise caution when they course their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel funds through a “third party”—whether through government or a private or nongovernment organization (NGO). Were they not surprised when neither the “third party” nor the ultimate beneficiaries of their PDAF gave them certificates of appreciation or invited them to a fiesta celebration as honored guests, as an act of gratitude for their help? We all know that politicians love public adulation. The absence of these “indicators” should have triggered alarm bells in their minds.

2. Legislators tend to brag about the thousands of beneficiaries they have assisted and about the infrastructure their PDAF has built, as monuments of achievement. Isn’t it uncharacteristic of them not to trumpet these? So why don’t they have the pictures of these achievements—e.g., school buildings, hospitals, housing projects, roads, bridges, scholars, poor patients being assisted—displayed, for all and sundry to know that their PDAF was spent wisely and actually reached the intended beneficiaries?

3. And why didn’t these legislators not ask for reports and pictures of the “projects,” and an accounting of the funds—if only so they could have records to show the public how and where their PDAF had been spent?

4. And common sense: Where are the press releases about these accomplishments?

5. No person in his right mind will release millions of pesos to a dubious entity, more so if the funds are public money. So lawmakers are expected like a good father of a family to exercise due diligence to vet the entity through which they plan to release their PDAF. After all, the crime of plunder is punishable with life imprisonment and is not bailable.

If these legislators do not have these proofs of “good faith” to show that their pork barrel was well-spent, there is only one inescapable conclusion and that is—quoting from Professor David’s column—“the bigger crime must lie with the legislators who knowingly used her services; it is they who should be the primary target of public anger.”

—CRISTINE ROJAS,

http://m.inquirer.net/opinion/?id=59175

The President has suspended the Pork Barrel for the time being but remains reluctant to abolish it completely.

With no pork to live on, how will the political class survive?

It costs an average of 200 million pesos to run for the House of Representatives; the salary is 2M pesos

I have been talking to a couple of friends in the news business and in politics.

It is easy to see why the President is so reluctant to put a stop to the "pork barrel".

The pork barrel has existed since the days of Elpido Qurino, who was himself as bent as a nine bob note.

Estrada actually tried to abolish the pork barrel - in trying that he cut the Congress off from their source of money and they became totally non-co-operative - in essence they went on strike. And not long after he was overthrown in "EDSA 2."

Very roughly half the Senate and the House are "traditionalists". They just buy their votes or terrorize the voters. These include .he big Northern landlords in Luzon and the big landlords in Mindanao. They need the pork barrel.

If Aquino abolishes pork and puts nothing in its place, he won't face a military coup, unlike his mother, because it is he who has been spending money on decent military equipment, so the AFP support him, but he could very well face an assassination attempt.

Some names to think about.

JP Enrile - the wiliest politician the Philippines has ever seen. His son's name is probably too tarnished by murder allegations to make him a viable candidate, but he can play King-maker again. Watch to see what he does.

Bongbong Marcos. Two Filipino friends in politics have mentioned his name to me recently - he has access to hidden money to finance a campaign and he is probably acceptable to the Americans as a bulwark against...

The Chinese. I don't mean the Filipino-Chinese business community. I mean China. And they are close to...

The Macapagal-Arroyos. Not to be under estimated, and with a score to settle

The Ampatuans of Maguindanao. Basically mercenaries who can be hired by the last two above or the big landlords.

If the President can navigate his way round this lot, and it seems fair to assume that the "million man march" on the 26th is aimed at showing just how much support there is for abolishing pork (we are given to understand that he wants to do this, but there are certain difficulties, viz those we've just spelled out, and the head of the Office of Budget and Management, Abad, who is in a sense like the Chief Whip in 10 Downing Street, is urging caution) so that the President can say he is reflecting the will of the people, then the "traditionalists" are out for ever, and the Philippines can become the Asian Tiger that it always should have been.

Who needs "Game of Thrones" when you can watch the real thing?