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Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Espinoza: Unicameral body to cut expenses in gov’t
By Elias L. Espinoza
THREAT. The threat for legislators to give up their pork barrel, which is candy-coated as countrywide development fund (CDF), has a noble purpose. However, the means used to achieve the end is contrary to law.
Indeed, if the legislators were true to their oath and truly patriotic as they appear in public, they should give up pork barrel funds, which this near-bankrupt government badly needs.
This is the problem with our political system. The legislative department is being conferred with executive functions.
Perhaps, ours is the only government in Asia where the legislative also works as the executive. As a result, projects are duplicated or useless ventures are implemented, wasting funds that could have been used to pay off huge debts with the International Monetary Fund.
The implementation of projects intended for the benefit and general welfare of every taxpayer is the job of the executive department, which includes local government units.
I know the legislators will never give up their pork barrel funds, even if their lives will be under threat by the so-called Cebu Pork Barrel Vigilantes (CPBV). The legislators use their so-called projects to win votes. Pork barrel money is also an additional source of election campaign funds.
The bickering between the Lower House and the Upper House over the Senate’s approval of its own budget, that reduced the pork barrel funds of senators and congressmen, is simply disgusting and a display of political immaturity.
The legislators are like kids fighting over uneven distribution of goodies. Worse, they’re doing it in public.
Have these honorable members of the House forgotten that the money they’re quarreling over belongs to the public? Susmaryosep!
While I, as a lawyer and law abiding citizen, cannot agree with the means the CPBV is espousing, there were times when I told myself that if things were going this way, we need drastic measures to effect radical change.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not in favor of CPVB’s move to eliminate legislators who won’t declare through a notarized affidavit that they are giving up their pork barrel.
In these trying times aggravated by messy politics, there is a compelling need to overhaul our unworkable political system and establish a unicameral body through a constitutional change.
The shift to two legislative Houses after the downfall of the late president Marcos was a big mistake.
Former president Cory Aquino cannot be blamed solely for that. The people around Aquino should be held responsible for that mistake.
Had the Aquino government adapted the unicameral system left by Marcos, there could have been no clamor today for a change in the form of government. The Constitution was designed with hatred and vindictiveness against the Marcos administration.
Except those who benefited from the Marcos government, everyone detested the regime of the late dictator. However, it cannot be denied that the national assembly or Batasan Pambansa, which was then unicameral, suites our political idiosyncrasies.
All that Aquino could have done then was declare a vacancy without necessarily abolishing the Batasan Pambansa and call for an election. It would not resurrect Marcos’ cronies because Aquino’s candidates were all elected.
The congressmen who lost P30 million in pork barrel money after the Senate’s budget slash, are now crying like kids deprived of candies. Don’t worry guys, the next election is still two years away.
There is no merit in the theory that if pork barrel were given directly to the executive or the Department of Public Works and Highways, the funds would end up in the wrong pockets.
I don’t think there would be no corruption if legislators were to continue handling pork barrel. Corruption has even flourished. In fact, only the legislators’ favorite contractors get the bulk of their projects.
There is even a joke that a certain congressman, a cockfighting aficionado, gets his money from “farm-to-pocket road projects.” It’s simply revolting!
So why doesn’t the CPBV also advocate for a unicameral body, to reduce government expenditures and eliminate corruption?
(March 15, 2005 issue)
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