What are the effects of The Pork Barrel Scam by Janet Lim napoles on the Economy of the Philippines? The officials must be required to list their reports through the print media. If people weren’t asking for dole-outs because they had jobs, then politicians wouldn’t need to hand-out pork barrel largesse which are funds they get from taxpayers. We must remove whatever causes the imbalance between the Capital and the Countryside. Pork Barrel System Transplanted to the Philippines The use of pork barrel funds in the Philippines dates back to the 1930s during the U.S. colonial occupation. The Opposition’s most senior leader will be the Leader of the Opposition who will keep tabs on what the Prime Minister does, while the Shadow Minister for, say, Defense will keep tabs on whatever the official government’s Minister of Defense does. But it should not end there. Reminds me of a former Chief Executive who swears that he never stole a single centavo from the government. Infographic: Solutions to the Root Causes of the Pork Barrel, Crowdsourced Malolos-Style Proposed Constitution, Read This Before Registering to this Site, Dismissing Gridlock: A Case for Parliamentary Systems, How I Came to the Conclusion that the Phils Needs Constitutional Reform, Parliamentary Systems Offer Better Representation, The Anti-People Constitution (from PhilStar), Chan Robles' Copy of the 1987 Constitution, The Parable of the Good Father and National Five-Year Plans, Please read this first before registering, The late John Gokongwei was pro-Constitutional Reform. Here are the three solutions necessary to truly wean Filipinos away from their dependence on the pork barrel, on the one hand, and eliminate the need of government to make use of it as a “tool for governance” on the other: 1. This simply means one thing: MORE JOBS FOR FILIPINOS. Third, the Court said that the pork barrel violates the system of check and balances since it deprives the President the power to veto line items in the annual appropriation law: “This setup connotes that the appropriation law leaves the actual amounts and purposes of the appropriation for further determination and, therefore, does not readily indicate a discernible item which may be subject to the … Obviously not. We must address Root Causes, not just Symptoms. DISTRIBUTING OPPORTUNITIES TO THE COUNTRYSIDE, When the regions who form the “Countryside” are much more capable of fending for themselves economically, what need is there for the Pork Barrel as a means of “redistributing funds?”, 3. At least P21 billion a year of taxpayers’ money that arguably could have been more efficiently and equitably used for the welfare of the Filipino people. However, taking that pill gives you rashes, although it does solve – to an extent – that other symptom you originally had. Understanding this will allow us to see if merely abolishing the Pork Barrel fund will actually work, or whether it is actually part of a wider set of systemic problems that stem from a common set of root causes. And we must eliminate (or at least reduce) the root problems that cause the executive to need to rely upon pork barrel funds as a means to elicit the legislature’s cooperation. Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. It simply makes people in the countryside more likely to develop a mendicant attitude of dependence on dole-outs… While the pork barrel can be used favorably , supporters o f the abolition point out that the pork barrel system is generally anomalous as legislators could easily manipulate their PDAF spending to pursue self interest and not the public interest. To use an analogy, imagine that you are taking a pill that is supposed to solve a particular symptom you are experiencing. Grand conspiracy to steal taxpayers’ money. Clearly, using the Pork Barrel does not develop the countryside. We should get to the roots of our problems instead of just ignoring them and using band-aid “quick-fixes” merely attempt to suppress the surface-symptoms but also often end up having serious side-effects. Parliamentary System: NO GRIDLOCK, Greater Transparency. Having lived in progressive countries which use parliamentary systems, Orion has seen first hand the difference in the quality of discussions and debates of both systems, finding that while discussions in the Philippines are mostly filled with polemical sophistry often focused on trivial and petty concerns, discussions and debates in the Parliamentary-based countries he’s lived in have often focused on the most practical and most important points. Pork barrel is bad. Without the Pork Barrel fund, they feel they’ll be helpless. More jobs for Filipinos means more Filipinos earning salaries which means less need for Pork Barrel. Surely, everyone understands this to be a disaster. MANILA, Philippines—Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos gathered at Luneta Park on Monday to voice outrage at graft-tainted pork barrel fund in the largest demonstration since President Benigno Aquino was elected in 2010 on a platform to fight corruption. The CoRRECT™ Movement Website © 2020. Rather than “redistributing taxpayers’ money across the country”, why not “redistribute economic opportunities” by giving the regions the authority and the ability to attract investments themselves? The solution to the pork barrel issue is not abrogation but greater accountability, transparency, and rationality in its utilization. The problem is that those “local projects” often show up in the form of basketball courts or sponsorships in local town fiestas. Orion first achieved fame as one of the most remembered and most impressive among the winners of the popular RPN-9 Quiz Show “Battle of the Brains”, and got a piece he wrote – “The Parable of the Mountain Bike” – featured in Bob Ong’s first bestselling compilation of essays “Bakit Baligtad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino?” He is the principal co-founder of the CoRRECT™ Movement and spearheads the campaign to inform the Filipino Public about the urgent need for Constitutional Reform & Rectification for Economic Competitiveness & Transformation. The Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also called the PDAF scam or the pork barrel scam, is a political scandal involving the alleged misuse by several members of the Congress of the Philippines of their Priority Development Assistance Fund, a lump-sum discretionary fund granted to each member of Congress for spending on priority development projects of the Philippine government, mostly on the … Poor health? By Jeanne … A list, by the way, that is as broad as all outdoors: livelihood, manpower, sports, and cooperative development, delivery of basic services, environmental protection, agricultural and fisheries diversity, rural industrialization, development of local enterprises, social services in areas that would not be ordinarily undertaken by the private sector, and construction, maintenance, operations and management of infrastructure projects. By continuing, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Public attention is now focused on the pork barrel scam, as well it should. Need for the Executive to get the Legislature’s Cooperation. (More on the details of how to do that later in this article) After all, if jobs were plentiful, then people wouldn’t be asking for dole-outs in the first place. Pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world, making up about 38 percent of meat production worldwide. Heath and sanitation instead of ‘pork barrel’ While reviewing the recent reports on China’s alternate “cultural revolution,” it struck me that the Philippines could also do itself a world of good if it commits to its own “toilet revolution.” All of the enumerated issues above serve as either pull (or demand from the People) or push (or supply from the State) factors which perpetuate the existence of the Pork Barrel fund. But before jumping into the “abolish the Pork Barrel” bandwagon, it is necessary for Filipinos to first understand why the Pork Barrel system exists, and why it was institutionalized the way it has been in the Philippines. (Then again, “Meet the People” or “Townhall” Sessions are how things work in a Parliamentary System). Lee Kuan Yew’s Speech at the Philippine Business Conference, Nápoles & Pork Barrel: It’s the Lousy System, Foreigner: Pinoy Inability to Improve is due to Escapism. Patronage politics allows dynasties and evil politicians to stay in power. Economic Liberalization: Remove 60/40 & other anti-FDI provisions. He forgets that he was receiving all kinds of goodies from friends with government contracts. But one can see the elements of conspiracy—the legislator, the government agency, and the contractor acting in collusion. Evolving Federalism & Region-based Decentralization, Useful Information on the Parliamentary System, Video Gallery: Human Costs of Economic Protectionism, The Filipino First Policy caused the Philippines to Fail, Marina Bay Sands is One Big Foreign Direct Investment, Lee Kuan Yew talks about the Failure of Maoism and Deng Xiaoping’s shift towards Capitalism, Why FDI & Economic Liberalization are necessary, The Difference Between OFW Remittances versus FDI, Philippine Progress: Shift in Sport, Shift in System, Parliamentary Systems are Less Prone to Corruption, Claro M. Recto on the Presidential System. As a necessary component of a republican system, the pork barrel is directly beneficial to the people as priority projects can be funded by the legislator’s PDAF allocation. Earmark ban: No effect on spending Mitch McConnell, top Senate Republican, said Monday he would support a GOP ban on earmarks. This is very much tied to Economic Liberalization, but this time, the regions themselves will be empowered to take the initiative to more actively “court investors” by having the regions set policies that would make themselves much more investor-friendly and competitive in order to attract job-creating corporations to set up operations in various regions. One totally disappointing recurring theme in Philippine Society is the overwhelming focus that Filipinos have in merely addressing symptoms, but not going deep enough to hit the root causes of a particular “disease” or problem. The “servants” of the people screw their bosses with impunity. And worst of all (if the current scam is any indication), the pork may not even help the local constituents; it stops in the legislators’ pockets and those of their private-sector coconspirators, with the active help or benign neglect of the government agencies and the Commission on Audit. All it takes for evil to triumph…. We must remove all the reasons why People (especially poor people) ask for such dole-outs. The Philippines, sad to say, uses a Presidential System. The other Shadow Ministers will do the same for each of the Government Ministers they are assigned to “shadow.”, (“Shadow” —> “to follow around and keep detailed tabs on“), In a Parliamentary System, the competition between the Opposition versus Government during parliamentary debates ensures that the Government is on its toes. Every week, the Leader of the Opposition grills the Prime Minister during the PM’s Question Period on decisions, project outcomes, and issues of budget expenditiure, while the Shadow Minister for Education grills the Minister for Education on anything pertaining to the Ministry of Education, and so on and so forth… This system keeps the Government on its toes and forces them to keep themselves clean and above-board. 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While the Majority bloc will assign their most senior leader to be the Prime Minister and the other leaders and senior members to be Ministers heading each of the Ministries, the Minority will do the same. The first pork project in the United States—federal funds were appropriated for the benefit of a locality—was $1,500 to complete a lighthouse in what was then Massachusetts (with the backing of President George Washington). Very often, due to the discretionary nature of the fund, politicians use the fund to reward supporters or buy the support of many others. Pork barrel politics affect the economy in several ways. These bad politicians make policies that hinder development. Simply shifting over to a Parliamentary System immediately eliminates the gridlock problem, thus eliminating the key “supply-side” rationale behind the institutionalization of the pork barrel fund in the first place. It was not a unanimously approved project, and the use of federal (national) money for local benefit was looked at askance by some of the greatest American leaders, including Thomas Jefferson. Basically, the politician tries to benefit his/her constituents in order to maintain their support and vote. These Here is what an American NGO, the Citizens Against Government Waste, says about the pork barrel system in the United States at present: “Cases of out-and-out bribery are rare. The Parliamentary System: Would it produce better leaders? Two, it gives incumbent legislators an unfair advantage over their electoral opponents, because of the projects (if successfully implemented) they bring, or the money (if pocketed) they can use to buy votes. Pork barrel spending occurs when the government earmarks funds to be spent in a specific region of … Any anomalous transactions can easily be exposed as the Opposition is always watching whatever the Government does and raises questions every week. In sum, what are the benefits of the pork barrel system in the Philippines? Institutionalized corruption. Liver Cancer and Cirrhosis. Everyone seems to be screaming about the need to abolish the Pork Barrel, which today bears the official name “Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). The Philippines and corruption go together like pork and mustard. Simply because those who benefit are the ones who decide whether the system should continue or not. Clean hands. When people have jobs, they don’t feel helpless, they don’t feel dependent. Greater transparency as the Opposition can question the Government during the numerous Question Periods and parliamentary debates. The Minority Opposition creates what is known as a Shadow Cabinet which is composed of leaders and senior members of the coalition or party that leads the opposition minority bloc, who will take on “shadow ministerial positions” and are each assigned to follow the official Government Cabinet’s own ministers around in each of their ministry’s meetings. We need to get rid of the reasons why the pork barrel was thought of as a palliative “quick-fix” in the first place. Why? Answer: Countrywide Development Fund, In other words, part of the intention for the Pork Barrel was to “distribute funds from the national coffers to localities in the countryside.” In defense of the Pork Barrel fund, you might have read comments about the need to “assist local communities through special funding” or “redistribute wealth to the rest of the country through various local projects.”. The “pork barrel system” of lump sum grants to members of the Philippines Congress to fund a list of community-based or small-scale infrastructure projects that would be implemented by local public agencies was revived during President orazon Aquino’s administration. • A government appropriation, bill, or policy that supplies funds for local improvements designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents. What if we were Parliamentary back in 2009? Without the pork barrel fund, the Executive would simply be unable to get the legislature agreeing with it, and both branches could end up going in different directions. That’s one of the key selling points of Federalism. There’s been a lot of anger expressed regarding Janet Nápoles, her daughter Jeane, their lavish lifestyles, and the Pork Barrel scam that funded it all. That’s the same thing as the pork barrel. These are all systemic problems caused by systemic root causes. Call 896 6000. It supports patronage politics. TOM RODRIGUEZ is a solid Constitutional Reform advocate! Is it a disease? Being an Overseas Filipino Worker himself, he has seen firsthand how the dearth of investment – both local and foreign – is the cause of the high unemployment and underemployment that exists in the Philippines as well as the low salaries earned by people who do have jobs.Being Cebuano (half-Cebuano, half-Tagalog), and having lived in Cebu, he is a staunch supporter of Federalism. Being healthy often means not being prone to disease which often requires people to take medicines which could have other undesirable side effects. Do we really want a truly better country? The following are the problems that the institution of the Pork Barrel intends, rightly or wrongly, to fix: 1. While the US Congress was torn “between those who pursue pork and those who resist it,” the latter view prevailed until a “turning point” was reached in the 1980s, during the Reagan administration, after which the number and value of pork projects increased astronomically. This is why there is NO GRIDLOCK in Parliamentary Systems. That clash between the two branches is called GRIDLOCK. See, merely abolishing the pork barrel fund without addressing the problem of gridlock means that as gridlock continues, politicians from the executive branch will later on think of reinstating the pork barrel (perhaps calling it something else) because of the need to buy the legislature’s cooperation. Apparently, far too many Filipino leaders didn’t think that legislators are supposed to concentrate on legislation – i.e. In short, being less disease-prone means having less need to pop pills, and thus not have to endure their side-effects. 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