Barrel of fun(d)

THE PORK barrel treated as the personal piggy bank of the politico.

Thus, the Honorable Lani Mercado-Revilla (2nd District-Cavite): "Sige, basta wag lang manghihingi ang mga tao sa amin" on her reaction to scrapping the priority development assistance fund.

Furthering: "E ano'ng ibibigay namin? Hindi naman puwede yung pinaghihirapan namin dahil sa personal naman namin 'yun, sa mga anak, sa mga pang-araw-araw na paggastos naming."

Galante with the people’s money. Kuripot with her – and her husband’s – own.

At least the lady legislator showed some transparency there – displaying for  everyone to see what’s in her head.  

And more telling: "I have to tell 7,000 scholars that without PDAF, I can't help them…We give out scholarships to empower people. It is in our menu. Our constituents ask us for medical and burial assistance."

You give out scholarships, Madame? It is the PDAF that makes the scholarships possible. Without it, your 7,000 scholars are nada. An arrogation unto thyself of what is rightfully the state’s therefore is your Cong. Lani Mercado-Revilla Scholarship Program.

But of course, Misis Agimat is not all by herself here, the scholarship menu a staple fare in the PDAF’s of all other congressmen and senators.

In Pampanga, I remember, it was the fear of losing his PDAF in support of his over 25,000 scholars that (in)famously constrained Cong. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales to break ties with his patron, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, even as she was being wheeled to St. Luke’s Medical Center in the first of her series of confinements, medical as well as legal.

Not that Cong Dong loved GMA less, but that he needed his PDAF more. Not so much for himself as for his scholars. Whom Congressman Oscar S. Rodriguez is now in a quandary to adopt as his own, abolished PDAF and all.

Even as the PDAF has been declared abolished by the President, Senate President Franklin Drilon said lawmakers would still retain their right to direct a portion of the annual budget (P200 million for each senator and P70 million for a representative) to a hospital or a road project that they desired.

“What will happen if we will not take a direct hand (in the identification of projects)?” So was Drilon quoted as asking.

The better, and more relevant, question is: What has happened when politicos take a direct hand in the identification of projects?

A case in point – in Pampanga, again – is the rehabilitation of the Porac District Hospital.

At its inauguration on April 11, 2013, paeans were heaped upon Senator Lito M. Lapid, Porac’s favourite son, for his generosity in bearing the bigger share of the funds to provide the hospital with “clean and spacious patient wards as well as private rooms, modern X-ray machine, and 24-hour pharmacy and laboratory.”

Lapid directed P25 million from his PDAF to the hospital while the Department of Health provided P10 million.

Lapid’s beneficence though came with some quid pro quo – the Porac District Hospital renamed – after his father – Jose Songco Lapid District Hospital.

So, who was Jose Songco Lapid that a government hospital was named after him?

In January 2011, the Porac town council approved Ordinance No. 480 seeking to rename the hospital after the bida’s father to “immortalize his legacy and valuable contributions to the province of Pampanga and his fellow Kapampangan.”

What contributions? The resolution said the “patriarch of the Lapid family who has distinguished themselves in the realm of public service.”

Aye, Lito Lapid being the first ever Pampanga governor suspended by the Ombudsman in the wake of the quarry scam. Mark Lapid taken to a congressional inquiry – also on quarry anomalies. Their joint governorship of twelve years contributing to the Capitol coffers what succeeding governors Among Ed Panlilio  and Lilia G. Pineda each contributed well within their first two years in office. Distinction, indeed!

There was no string attached to the renaming of the Porac district hospital to Jose Songco Lapid District Hospital other than the P25 million for its rehabilitation from Lapid’s PDAF.

Government money to perpetuate some private person’s memory, significant, mayhaps but only to his immediate family. Epalitics at another level here.

Aye, it is in the pork barrel that epal  feeds and breeds, manifesting itself in tarpolitics.

The construction of this bridge is a priority project of Cong…The widening of this road is a priority project of  CongW…The rehabilitation of the Manila North Road is a priority project of Cong…The renovation of this hospital is a priority project of Senator…Screamed tarpaulins impacting the large-fonted names and larger-than-life photoshopped images of your representatives, arrogating unto themselves projects funded by your own taxes.

So impacted in the people’s consciousness that prioritized project implementation is all there is to being congressman or senator. The business of legislation, but optional activity on the side.  

The gangs in the House and Senate never had it so good. Indeed…

Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel, ring out a song of good cheer
Now's the time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here…    

The Filipino people never had it so bad. With a BS Aquino for President, expect little, if any, betterment.   

The pork barrel has become a powder keg just about ready to explode.