THERE could no longer be any music playing. The noise caused by the pork barrel scam has gone from just deafening to already unbearable. Everybody has an opinion, analysis and interpretation on everything.
Truth be told, nothing is clear, at this time. Not the status. Not the direction. Not the outcome.
This quagmire is beyond frustrating, especially because we have a government whose one and only platform is anti-corruption.
The point here is not that most of the incidents involving the pork barrel scam occurred during the past administration. This excuse is unacceptable.
The point here is that it is the principal function of this present administration to prosecute all those against whom there are evidence based on documents and witnesses of complicity in the pork barrel scam, regardless of when the supposed graft was committed. This is what is expected from, and demanded of, the present administration.
The point here is not that the executive is merely one branch of the government, and that the legislature and the judiciary also have roles to play. It is always a question of leadership, to provide the vision, to provide the mission, and this is supposed to come from the executive.
This is not a time for pointing fingers or for passing the buck. On the contrary, this is the single biggest opportunity for the present administration to erect a legacy of a campaign promise accomplished.
If everything else seems too far away for now, probably for all the insuperable causes that may be found, then this present administration must firmly resolve to actually punish those who have plundered our coffers for so long, unless if it wants to fade in history as flunking in the one and only test it needed to pass.
Instead of aggressively defending its allies in the media, it should even more aggressively file cases in court so the trials can begin. Without cases being filed, nobody can be put behind bars. Without anybody in jail, the thieves will continue to revel from their loot.
Instead of desperately trying to communicate how good its allies are, it should even more desperately try to prove how bad those involved in the pork barrel scam are. The focus should be on offense – how to prove the guilt of those who were accused. The concentration should not be on defense – how to clean the image of those who were implicated.
Instead of tirelessly talking about the whole thing, it should quickly start acting on the entire matter. The people deserve results, not more of the same rumors, gossips and stories.
This one and only opportunity to cleanse the ranks of elected and appointed officials should be unlike the much hyped big ticket infrastructure projects recently approved by the government. Not a single one of these projects, in all probability, will be finished within the term of office of the present administration.
If and when the present administration cannot, or will not be able to, swing this large scale incarceration of crooks, then the people must elect a new leader in 2016 who will make sure that justice will be done though the heavens may come falling down.
Who? Maybe not from the current crop. Perhaps from the quiet ones.
Comments are most welcome. Please send them to onesmallvoice2014@gmail.com.