BECAUSE almost all politicians of consequence had been co-opted, finger-pointing was the last thing I expected to happen in the Duterte administration. But there they are, the other half of Congress trading accusations against each other, and later, them against the Cabinet.
Depending on where you’re coming from, blame it on or credit it to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whose expose of pork barrel insertions in the 2019 budget stirred the proverbial hornet’s nest in the House of Representatives.
It was Lacson who revealed that the congressional districts of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies got larger allocations than the others. In response, Arroyo’s men claimed that in fact, the biggest allocations went to the districts of deposed speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and his friends.
Then after Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno revealed during his appearance in the Question Hour of the House that his department adjusted the budget by adding P75.5 billion to the original appropriation for the Department of Public Works and Highways, the congressmen turned the tables on him and accused him of making unauthorized insertions. The congressmen asked the President to fire Diokno even after the latter explained that the P75.5 billion was not an insertion but augmentation so that the five percent share of infrastructure in the gross domestic product can be met.
This is classic squid tactics. In order to deflect attention from their own possible culpability, the congressmen are saying that it is Diokno who should be placed on the dock because he is the bigger crook.
His colleagues in the Cabinet and even private individuals have rushed to Diokno’s defense, calling him a man of integrity and the accusations against him baseless. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo accused the congressmen of “browbeating” the Department of Budget and Management head and of committing unparliamentary behavior that “has no place in the hallowed grounds of Congress.” The other Cabinet secretaries were just as blunt in blasting the congressmen’s behavior, describing the resolution demanding Diokno’s head as reeking of power play and ill purpose.
The quarrel has placed Duterte on the spot. Will he side with his official family and risk a mutiny in the House? Or will he appease Congress by firing Diokno even if it meant demoralization in the Cabinet? There is little, if at all, doubt that the discredited and outlawed pork barrel is back. What will the President do about it?
And one interesting sidelight: Congress flexing its muscles and, in the words of the Cabinet members, interfering with exclusively executive prerogative in the process. This was unheard of during Alvarez’s watch. Is the wind blowing in a different direction under the current leadership?
•••
The Provincial Government deserves praise for reinventing the old “Larsian sa Fuente.” I went to the new Larsian for lunch last Friday and found it much more organized and orderly than the original one. The food was good, too especially the “linarang” from the J and M Linarang Sa Fuente. We used to go to Pasil for “linarang” during our tennis-playing days. We don’t have to anymore because the one in Larsian is just as good, if not better. Congratulations, joint owners Jun Balingcasag and former CPA Commissioner Marino Fernan.