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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Dr. Temario Rivera; Prof. Roland Simbulan; Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera; Prof. Luis V. Teodoro; Dr. Eleanor Jaraishop Gabriel Garol; Prof. Melania Flores; Atty. Cleto Villacorta; Evi-Ta Jimenez; Dr. Edgardo Clemente; Prof. Bobby Tuazon; Dr. Felix Mu

ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 04Series of 2013

By the Policy Study, Publication, and AdvocacyCenter for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)September 20, 2013

Pork Barrel Scam: A Tipping Point for an Awakened Citizenry

Public trust in government dived to its lowest as a resultof the P10-bn pork barrel scam. It will not be restored not inthis generation.

For one, it will take long before the charges against thealleged operator of the criminal syndicate andaccomplices/beneficiaries such as lawmakers, heads ofagencies, and bogus NGOs are finally decided withconvictions meted out to those found guilty. For another, thepresent scam involving the plunder of pork barrel and otherspecial funds supposedly earmarked for poverty alleviationand other projects is just the tip of the iceberg that couldunearth other similar syndicates. With the first set ofplunder charges having been filed before her office,Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has the dauntingtask of marshalling the much-politicized agency to support

the investigation, weather political pressures, and preventthe cases from being dragged into a pro-administrationagenda for the 2016 presidential election. Impartialitydemands that the Ombudsman along with the justicedepartment should also look into allegations of involvementby Aquino administration officials and allies.

People dramatized their outrage over this latest case of

plunder of taxpayers' money through spontaneous andorganized rallies and other nationwide protest actions sinceAugust. There was sheer disbelief and shock that while

people from all walks of life were being displaced bydisasters like floods a scam headlined a few people awashwith stolen money living in shameless profligacy whilehobnobbing with high public officials in plush hotels.

In many respects, this latest case of corruption is

unprecedented given the involvement of the high andmighty in Congress and the longevity of this allegedcriminal operation albeit reportedly known to manylegislators that dates back to 2004 until it was exposed by a

whistleblower this year. It brings to mind how in the pasyears modern-day corruption using power, authority, secrecy looted the national treasury, foreign gra

investments, development projects, and other sources oleading to witnesses and whistleblowers being silenCorruption among other alleged heinous crimes lethe ouster of Ferdinand E. Marcos (1986) and JosephEstrada (2001); likewise it almost led to the removal of GlM. Arroyo during her term. Yet, for all the evidences testimonies of plunder and other cases involving oofficials, politicians, and generals most perpetraremained untouched while convictions gave way to policompromise or reconciliation. Corruption, indeed, thron opportunism.

Corruption weakens the state. Pork barrel, sugar-coaby the title Priority Development Assistance Fund, isone among many sources of corruption. Still, it alone mCongress a rubber-stamp of Malacanang under a systempolitical patronage disabling its constitutional mandatcheck and balance on the chief executive and made it conducive for a viable political party system. The execudepartment, of course, has its own pork barrel amountinseveral-fold more than that of Congress: Being lump s

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera; Prof. Luis V. Teodoro; Dr. Temario Rivera; Dr. Eleanor Jara; Bishop Gabriel Garolrof. Melania Flores; Atty. Cleto Villacorta; Evi-Ta Jimenez; Dr. Edgardo Clemente; Prof. Roland Simbulan; Prof. Bobby Tuazon; Dr. Felix M

and discretionary, the funds have never been subjected toreal auditing.

Corruption and the patronage politics it engenders is at

the core of dysfunctional institutions ranging from agenciesthat are tasked to deliver public goods and services to the

criminal justice system. One of the reasons why corruption isunbridled is the absence of an effective rule of law andjustice system particularly when powers that be areinvolved. Aggravating all these is a much-hyped buttoothless system of transparency and accountability and afreedom of information act which many legislators loath ofenacting. All these breed a culture of impunity that allowsthe commission not only of more graft and corrupt practicesbut also other crimes including human rights violations thatinvolve the state's powerful security forces againstdefenseless activists and other people.

Public trust, however, is built not only by credibility or

integrity but also by government's competence andresponsiveness in measuring up to the nation's social andeconomic expectations. Claims of economic growth will notcover up government's failure to address the endemicpoverty and the ever-widening income disparity thatunderscores the concentration of wealth in a few familiesincluding political dynasties. It also magnifies government'spro-elite, exclusionary economic policy. When more peoplelose jobs and families are consigned to a life of hopelessness,public trust in government suffers.

In the first place, the justice department's probe of theP10-bn pork barrel was prompted only by an expose of thewhistleblower and media reports which thereafterunleashed the public outrage. More investigations andmedia stories also revealed the failure if not complicity bysome officials of the oversight functions of the Departmentof Budget and Management (DBM) and other departmentsthat were dragged into the mess as well as, moreimportantly, the Commission on Audit (COA).

It is a misperception to even think that the Aquino

administration is devoid of any accountability with respectto the pork barrel scam. The reason is not only due to itsreactive position on the case and the possible culpability ofsome administration officials as well as Aquino's allies inCongress. The bigger reason is that the president himselfsince 2010 has officially prioritized and signed the automaticinclusion of PDAF as well as his own pork barrel funds in thenational budget aware that huge chunks of this taxpayers'money end up in the politicians' and criminal syndicates'pockets.

To sum up, the pork barrel scam evinces the followFirst, it is the result of a sinister deal long practiced by and present governments particularly between president and leaders of Congress to steal taxpayers' mofor personal aggrandizement in the guise of PDAF and obudget items, in short, legitimized plunder; second

atrocious belief that the way to run a government is to ensa quid pro quo partnership between Congress and the cexecutive through patronage politics with pork barrel asof the devices, i.e., a fellowship of crooks; third, big-tcorruption undermines the system of transparency accountability and is abetted by a weak oversight functioall levels of government; fourth, the scam shows the whgovernment machinery as one big business and a sourcprofits by traditional politicians and the political elite;afifth, the case underlines once more the institutioweaknesses of government encouraged no less by

present administration's failure to adopt wide-ranginstitutional reforms way beyond mere sloganeering.A congruence of situations spells major challenges fa

the administration today making it more uncertain wheit has the capability to govern competently. Poverty unemployment is rising, despite claims of GDP growthremains a potential trigger for social unrest. New armconflicts are emerging in the South, the peace process wthe MILF is long delayed, while that with the leftist guerhas been stalled and their armed struggle has intensifAquino is continuing a strong and onerous pro-U.S. po

allowing the country, through a bases access accord, new war front against China in the midst of territotensions. Aside from a renewed anti-bases movement, development is fomenting new challenges on the accoconstitutionality that can even be a potential materialimpeachment.

The whole nation is now witness to the declining leve

a weak state that clearly spell out a total government failIt all began 41 years ago with the declaration of martialfollowed by the failure of succeeding regimes to lift

people from economic stagnation that is bringing country to the bottom pit of human development ampoor countries of the world. And one of the identifymarks of this regime failure is corruption and pluninvolving mostly the political elite. The public trust ratingovernment as an institution is at its lowest and the stateits terminal stage. It is time to move forward.

The public outrage generated by this latest case

plunder can be a potential tipping point a defin

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Dr. Temario Rivera; Prof. Roland Simbulan; Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera; Prof. Luis V. Teodoro; Dr. Eleanor Jaraishop Gabriel Garol; Prof. Melania Flores; Atty. Cleto Villacorta; Evi-Ta Jimenez; Dr. Edgardo Clemente; Prof. Bobby Tuazon; Dr. Felix Mu

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