P-NOY BLUFFS WHEN HE NIXES PORK: TULOY ANG RALLY SA LUNETA!

 BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

To those who hesitate to join Monday’s (August 26) Million People March in Luneta and other places in the country to denounce the corruption of the P10 billion pork barrels scam , go and join the march at your designated places.

With this you help add to the multitude in assailing the scam and the  unmitigated corruptions perpetrated since time immemorial by our senators and congressmen.

Don’t believe the August 23 pronouncement of President Benigno Aquino III that he already abolished the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or the infamous “pork barrel”.
He was only bluffing so that those of you who decided to pour or show your grievances in Luneta  would forego your plan.
The more people flex their muscles in Luneta and other parts of the country, the more the pressure we could give the president to totally scrap the corruption-prone PDAF.
 Here’s an excerpt of his statement last Friday that saw print at some broadsheets :

President Aquino told the nation in August 23 that he abolished 
the congressional pork barrel  but  with qualification:"The
 abolition  of the PDAF therefore will not take away from 
lawmakers  the privilege of choosing projects and allocating
funds for the development of those projects." 

"The abolition of the PDAF therefore will not take away from lawmakers the privilege of choosing projects and allocating funds for the development of those projects."
 Susmariosep, collusion among the solons and private contractors will here to stay!

Another name for PDAF being hatched
Ask Senate President Franklin Drillon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte who sported a “porky” smile if they have already in mind another name for the pork when the president reads his statement on the abrogation of the PDAF.
 Believed you me, the greasy pork will  here to stay but with another name that is still being hatched by the President and the two top honchos of congress.
If during Cory Aquino's time it was  Countryside Development Fund (CDF), then PDAF. What will be its name after the August 23 pronouncement?
 Pork would still be here to rear its ugly head but with some of its fangs extracted.

Only some parts of pork have been extracted
Because of the uproar of the netizens on the plunder of the public coffer through the spurious Non Government Organizations (NGO) of Janet Napoles, our senators and congressmen would now be deprived to arbitrarily identify what kind of projects they want to implement.
In that pronouncements, the president, who a week ago has stonewalled the abolition of the PDAF, said the congressional pork will  still be tapped by the members of congress.
 He however said that they could no longer implement “consumable” soft projects, such as fertilizers, seeds, medicines, medical kits, dentures, funding for sports festivals, training materials, and other such items.
 “Congressional funds can no longer be disbursed through NGOs and certain government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), some of which had been used in the pork barrel scam’ he said.
The president continued that funds for projects should be limited to the districts or sectors of the legislators who sponsored them.
 Expect a thick national appropriation for fiscal year 2014 because these projects will be earmarked as line items, under the programs of the national government.
 But don’t swallow hook, line, and sinker the statement of the president that pork barrel is already a thing of the past.

Corruption with the PDAF continues 
Unmitigated corruption by our solons would still be here. It would be the same dog but with a different collar. Sa mga mag ma-marcha sa Lunes huwag magpaloko na wala na ang PDAF! Ang PDAF o Pork Barrel ay nandiyan pa rin kung saan ang mga congressmen at senators ay makakuha pa rin ng kick-back.
(Read my article”Is Cayetano's version of "pork" corruption-free?“

 that can be accessed at http://wwwmortzcortigoza.blogspot.com/2013/08/is-cayetanos-version-of-pork-corruption.html) sa mga private contractors who would be doing the yeoman’s job from the Department of Public Works & Highway, Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation System, Department of Agrarian Reform, you name it !
Want some proof that solons tinker with their PDAF?
A regional director of a corrupt government agency who moonlights as private contractor (only in d Pilipins!) told me that in Region-1 almost all congressmen ask him for kick-back every time their pork funds public projects. "Iyong congressmen na hindi humihingi o tumatangap ng S.O.P ay si former Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco and Pangasinan Congresswoman Kimi Cojuangco. Ibang congressmen diyan mga pusakal!
 When I asked a congresswoman that the Cojuangcos do not accept bribes, she told me: "E, mayaman naman kasi sila Mark and Kimi".

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)