Prints & Traces
By DON J. PAGUSARA
Davao Today
In my neighborhood or even in my own house, an avalanche of questions make its way into my ears. Questions not meant to be answered, for they are in fact commentaries on my behavior as a member of society or as a member of the militant community.
Nganong magsige man gud og rali oy? Unsa may makuha anang pagsigeg martsa ug protesta? Pila na ka gatos ang nahitabong rali, naa bay nahimong kausaban? Ug kanang welga sa mga drayber, kapila na na gihimo, nakapakunhod ba sa presyo sa lana o gasolina?
[Why so many protest rallies? What do we get from all those marches and protest actions? How many hundred times have you launched rallies, yet has there been any change? Those transport strikes, happening many times, have they reduced he prices of oil or gasoline?]
Nagsamok-samok lang na. Nakahatag lag perhuwisyo o bwisit sa katawhan! [They’re just causing troubles. They’re only causing disturbances and discomfort to the people!]
There are overriding reasons why protest actions in the streets should be done. For one thing, the right to peaceably assemble to seek redress for grievances or wrong is a constitutional right. The citizenry can conduct peaceful gatherings and air their complaints against government officialdom if they feel that such officialdom has committed an unlawful act or is guilty of doing something inimical to public interest.
With such protest actions, the public are awakened or alerted to an anomaly or a wrong. And so, the militancy of the protesters becomes a very commendable attitude and a necessary exercise. Otherwise, the state of silence and docility of the people would only work for the flourish of something akin to evil.
Would you rather sleep on the knowledge of a crime being perpetrated in our midst? Or would you rather cry out loud to expose and condemn the irregularity or crime that to our best information would jeopardize the sound operation of the involved State machinery? Is it not our bound duty as concerned and responsible citizens to hold accountable the wrongdoers?
That is exactly what the militants are doing. Broadcasting to the whole world the goings-on in our government. Because in the government we repose our faith and trust to deliver what has been accrued to the public welfare or what must redound to the benefit of every one of us.
And therefore, if the government fails to deliver what we have entrusted it to deliver, what is our way of reproaching the responsible officials, or reprimanding the suspected offenders? It is through the parliament of the streets!
Short of being whistleblowers, we ordinary citizens have the responsibility to delve into the whys and wherefores of the workings of the people in government and the people linked to certain people in government.
Take the example of the Napoles scam. We are appalled by the magnitude of its criminality. But we have not unraveled the ramifications of this scam, have we? We need to be clarified why this happens, how it happens, and how it can be stopped and prevented from happening ever again.
In constant vigilance and militant actions, we will be able to get into the essence of the scam. And knowing the essence, we can seek the right solution to the problem. Not just temporary solutions, mind you, but enduring solutions.
For instance…, Kun wala pa ang katawhan nag martsa ug nagrali sa kadalanan, mapugos kaha ang mga Senador ug Kongresista paghimog imbestigasyon? Mapugos kaha si President Noynoy pagdeklarar nga
wad-on na ang PDAF? [ If the people did not march and rally in the streets, will the Senate conduct an investigation into the scam? Would President Noynoy have been forced to declare abolition of the PDAF?]
But even with such Senate investigation and the President’s declaration, do we rest contented and leave everything to them and expect that things will all turn alright? No, your majesty, my dear compatriots! That will not do, because if we loosen our grip on the issue, and entrust its resolution to the politicians (whether in Congress or in Malacañang) things will again go awry.
And we keep on asserting our right to peacefully assemble and blow our whistles for the whole truth to unfold. And we have gotten mileage in this! In our mass actions, we have come upon a “ butcher house” and discovered a big, big, big CHUNK OF PORK, amounting to as much as a Trillion hidden in a Bank Account which only the President can touch. (!?)
This considerably big chunk of Pork is what Malacañang is adamant to.
Insist that it should not be abolished! So, only the PDAF shall go to “line items” in the national budget as proposed by the members of the House of Representatives. And this (which includes that of the Senators) shall be distributed among the different agencies with the Department of Work and Public Highways (DPWH) getting the biggest share.
The DPWH is reportedly — and notoriously– the favorite channel of kickbacks of Senators and Congressmen.
Right now, the bright boys in Congress are squeezing their intellect to find a new name for the PDAF. Rest assured they would be able to invent a virgin- sounding name.
Now, the unanswered question is: Why oh why does the President insist on having his trillion-fat Pork stay in the budget? Is he that incorruptible, honest, inviolate? Can he not succumb to the temptation of dipping his fingers into this palatable PORK?
Corruption is not necessarily a genetic precondition. If the system invites the abuse of one’s power to pilfer public funds for whatever end, you may be a cousin of Christ or a scion of Lucifer, you are not exempt from becoming a kiriwan. What matters is that the PORK is an open door to graft and corruption.
In other words, it is a system, not an individual idiosyncracy! You keep the system intact, you keep the germ of corruption in its ideal habitat.
And do you know that it was Noynoy’s Mother Cory who created the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) which was transformed into the PDAF? Now, whether for some sentimental reasons or whatever, our current President wants his Pork intact! And available and accessible ONLY TO HIM!
I said it before, and I say it again: Granting for the sake of argument President Aquino is most incorruptible, most honest, most inviolate, as a President, what is his guarantee that the Chief Executive after him will be as incorruptible, as honest, as inviolate as he is and be made the inheritor of this giant of a PORK?
And so, my dear compatriots, we must not stop launching mass protest actions to determinedly ABOLISH ALL PORK in our system of governance. We need to be militant as vigorously as we desire change. (davaotoday.com)
abolish pork, activism, pdaf
