Pork barrel and Janet Napoles
FILIPINO WORLDVIEW By Roberto R. Romulo (The
Philippine Star) | Updated September 6, 2013 - 12:00am
The press and social media continue with
commentaries and condemnation of the so-called “pork barrel” and the role of
Janet Napoles and her beneficiaries from the three branches of government. One
of the items in the web had a photo of Manuel V. Pangilinan stating he earned
P81 million and paid P26 million to the BIR, making him the fourth
largest taxpayer. Juxtaposed to his photo was that of a Senator which
quoted his estimated annual income as P420,000 but with an estimated pork
barrel scam of P1 billion with no BIR listing. This is illustrative of the
corruption which is pervasive in our government system. The citizenry is
justifiably enraged and some have expressed outright disgust with this bad
governance.
I think it is worth making the following
observation that seem to undermine the President’s moral authority however
unwittingly. I have no doubt that the President is honest. That, above other
attributes, is the source of his strength domestically which explains his high
approval rating, and internationally as evidenced by our improving credit
rating and rising interest from foreign investors. As a former member of
Congress, the President sees value in the honest application of this money to
meet local needs. But he underestimated the public sentiment and so his
perceived dithering about “abolishing” the pork barrel certainly knocked his
credibility a few notches down. But it was his meeting with Janet
Napoles in Malacanan Palace as well as accompanying her to Camp Crame
that certainly raised eyebrows. Certainly, on form alone, it did not look right
for the President to meet a fugitive in the presidential palace nor accompany
them to jail. Worse, this perception of special treatment only served to
encourage impugning dark motives to this sordid revelation of mind-boggling
corruption given that those on the dock right now are predominantly from the
opposition and especially those with reported presidential ambitions. It is the
responsibility of his communication group (three cabinet secretaries) to
recognize the potential downside and shield the president from such a
situation. These “close ins” should have told him the implications of
meeting such a notorious character. Presidents don’t meet with fugitives, nor
should they be brought to the presidential palace and accompanied to jail. In
fact, the presidential spokesperson and his deputy were the ones who fetched
Napoles from a cemetery. Little wonder why people think the communications
group should take a crash course on Public Relations 101 forthwith before they
inflict another PR disaster on the President.
Good governance
The practice of good governance is not the
exclusive requirement of the public sector, it is equally mandatory for the
private sector. I am involved in a case related to Nationwide Development
Corporation (NADECOR). Conrad Calalang, Jose Ricafort and I, together with six
others, we were elected members of the board in an annual stockholders meeting
on Aug. 15, 2011. On December 2011, upon petition of the wife of Jose Ricafort
and children, the Regional Trial Court 159 of Pasig nullified the election.
Corazon H. Ricafort and children stated
that they did not receive notice of the annual stockholders meeting. The
Court of Appeals ruled: “Contrary to the finding of the RTC and the
respondents’ contention that they were not able to participate in the annual
stockholders meeting, the records reveal that respondents did participate
through their duly authorized representative Jose G. Ricafort, who acted as
their proxy.” Luis Manuel L. Gatmaitan, then corporate secretary, confirmed in
his affidavit that Jose Ricafort did indeed sign the attendance sheet for and
on behalf of his wife and children. Furthermore, Raymond Ricafort, the son of
Jose Ricafort also confirmed this under oath. I find it condemnable that Jose
Ricafort urged his wife and children to perjure themselves. Clearly, he failed
to act in accordance with good corporate governance.
The Court of Appeals final decision stated:
“The Annual Stockholders Meeting of NADECOR held on August 15, 2011 is hereby
declared valid and the Board of Directors and Officers elected thereat are
declared lawfully elected. Any and all acts of the Board of Directors
elected during the August 15, 2011 NADECOR Annual Stockholders Meeting are
declared VALID.”
Ironically, the Jose Ricafort group then
filed an administrative case against the justices of the Court of Appeals only
to have the case dismissed by the Supreme Court unanimously (15-0). This
dissident group continues to create problems for the legitimate board of
NADECOR. In this modern age of the internet, potential foreign investors read
about his attempts to block investors such as St. Augustine Mining which
invested $43.5 million dollars in NADECOR. Ricafort is demotivating others from
investing at a time when the country is promoting foreign direct investment.
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REACTION
Philippines known to
be the Pearl of the orient seas; once considered as one of the 1st world
countries yet today, our country is known to be one of the most corrupt
countries in the world. What had happened to the land full of promise?
Poverty,
unemployment, corruption and a like are the problems faced by the country yet
left unsolved for decades now. Who is it to be blamed? Or what would be the
root of all these?
Government officials
PDAF is one of the hottest issue our country is having right now. Whistle
blowers come out from the open, Napoles’ detention and the identification of
senators who abused the fund entitled to them, called pork barrel; but do these
things solve the problem? A problem is solved once the root or the source of
the problem is identified.
Corruption is one of
the root problems of all these issues coming out today. It is a problem that is
so rampant and was never been eradicated ever since. Our government, specially our president is
serious in his objecting to uphold the integrity in governance. Integrity of
governance is stained by the ill-system that has been manipulated of some of
the government officials. Pork barrel is seen as one of the large interests of
some government officials why they would love to be in the senate. It is a
large allocation of budget coming from the taxes paid by the people and is
created to be of help in the Filipinos and not for personal use.
It is allocated not to be abused but instead
to uplift or improve what has to be improved to address the problems the
country is facing today.
My stand to this
pork barrel issue? It should be abolished because it is a privilege given long
time ago yet there were no remarkable changes. Moreover, it was just taken
advantage by the people in position. Instead of giving it to them, why not
allocate it to concrete projects for health, education and jobs for Filipinos.
At times this pork barrel, we don’t teach Filipinos how to fish. Some of us
rely it all to the government officials or beg help from them, when in fact it
is ours and it should be our privilege and we are entitled to it.
Amidst all the
things happening today,there is still hope for change;change for the best and
that change should start in every FIlipino for us to help our president drive
aiming to bring back integrity in governance and giving the Filipinos the best.
It will surely not happen in just a snap but through cooperation ang trust we
can all make it.
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