Filipinos should be indignant over the DAP!

Have you ever asked yourself…why Filipinos today are so passive? In this era of mass communication, especially that most Filipinos now have cellphones; therefore many are into social networking whether on their PC's or in their mobile networks so one can therefore say that a great number of Filipinos know what is happening to this country. Those who do not know what is happening around them are the very poor folk living in the hinterlands, where only radio signals can be heard. But since the majority of Filipinos live in metropolitan or urban centers, it is safe to assume that a good majority of Filipinos know what is happening in our country today.

Of course the biggest scandal ever to hit this country's political leadership is the twin declaration by the Supreme Court declaring the Priority Development Assistance Program  a.k.a. pork barrel and the Disbursement Acceleration Program  as unconstitutional. The PDAF strikes at the heart of the Legislative Branch of the government and is the answer to the question we asked a long time ago…"Why do these politicians run for public office that pays them only P35,000 per month, yet they spend millions of pesos just to get themselves elected.

Now the truth has surfaced. These members of the House of Representatives found a way, through a middleman named Janet Lim Napoles, who by simply showing their Special Allotment Release Order for their special projects, they can get for themselves tax-free millions of pesos that they deposited in their personal bank accounts.

I finally got a signed true copy of the "confession" or affidavit that Janet Lim Napoles wrote at the Department of Justice and reading her stories one would think that she was like a bank manager who would get the SARO's of congressmen or senators in return for their advance cut, which Napoles would give to them. Of course, she too had her cut and everyone was happy. But when she and Ben-Hur Luy couldn't settled their differences, her world went into a spin and the political elite that has ruled this nation since we removed the Marcos dictatorship was exposed for their corruption.

I challenge every single reader of this column to try to negotiate for a P500,000 or P1 million loan with a bank or even a pawnshop and chances are, you won't get anywhere getting that loan unless you coughed up some kind of a collateral for that loan. But in their dealings with Napoles, all that a congressman or senator needed was his SARO and bingo! Millions of tax-free money started to flow!

It is for this very reason why we Filipinos should be angry or indignant at the political elite who for 28 years since the EDSA revolt stole our monies and stuffed their personal bank accounts, while funds for the people's hospitalization, education, and infrastructure were scarce or limited.

We were talking about the PDAF or pork barrel, which was declared unconstitutional. Let's now shift our focus and attention to the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which two weeks ago, the Supreme Court also declared as unconstitutional. Let me clarify it here that the PDAF or pork barrel exposed the shenanigans of the Legislative Branch but now the DAP has also exposed the corruption of the Executive Branch led by no less than Pres. Benigno Aquino III. PNoy could not have believed that the SC had the gall to declare the DAP unconstitutional and that it took him two weeks to surface and hit back at the SC.

So last Monday he blasted the Supreme Court for its ruling on the DAP and insisted that DAP is legal. In my book, the President wants to take over the role of the Supreme Court in interpreting our laws. In my book, PNoy has become a megalomaniac, thinking unto himself that he was the nation's ultimate ruler and nobody should dare cross his path!

The President even claimed that the DAP boosted the Philippine economy and is their basic reason for their "good faith" defense of Malacañang which will hold up only if it is true and is proven. But we Catholics know too well that old proverb that said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." No matter how he defends the DAP, the bottom line is the Executive Branch of the government executes the laws that are enacted by the Legislative Branch and one of those laws are the General Appropriations Act where all government monies are budgeted and the Executive implements those laws as enacted by the Legislature.

As for the Judiciary, its role is to interpret the laws enacted by the Legislative to check whether these are constitutional or not. No one questioned the DAP and until September last year when Sen. Jinggoy Estrada delivered a privilege speech baring P50 million was distributed to each member of the Senate impeach court who had voted to convict former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. Now that is bribery in the highest order!

*  *  *

Email: [email protected]