Beautiful Cebu

Cebu is not the same colonial province time has forgotten decades ago. It is not a periphery to the center but rather, a destination with its own unique charm. Discover for yourself. See new destinations in the Cebu mainland. Read on...

Monday, August 26, 2013

PULSE | Is the pork worth it all, Mr. President?

The president is staking his presidency in defense of the pork. The pork stays in the 2014 budget albeit subject to new guidelines while saying he is abolishing it. He may be guilty of double-talk and letting his credibility slip away. Here's a letter addressed to him from one who voted for him in the 2010 election.

Mr. President,

Is "matuwid na daan" mere campaign mantra? Are you really sincere about fighting corruption or was it just a slogan to win an election? Did you merely stumble on the anti-corruption sound clip and found it effective instead of really meaning it?

Throughout your presidency, you have spearheaded the fight against corruption but now that the people themselves have manifested their desire for genuine change, you are on the wrong side of the debate. From a credible reformist, you now pathetically project yourself as conservative leader bent on preserving the status quo riddled with inequality, corruption and poverty.

You had a chance to do the difficult but correct thing to do after your election to the presidency in 2010. Instead of harnessing people power which your parents helped inspire, you took the more familiar ground of traditional patronage politics.

The  disillusionment with you however, doesn't translate to support for your enemies eager to ride on the people's disgust with corruption. The saying- the enemy of my enemy is my friend doesn't apply in this situation.You still are not the enemy. Opportunists risk public scorn if they try to railroad the people's genuine sentiment for change for their self-serving ends.

Mr. President, people want their lawmakers to just legislate laws not concern themselves with pocketing taxpayers' money through various commission schemes taken from how their pork is spent.

Should you continue with your double talk, let me just ask, is the pork worth it all, Mr. President? You risk losing the goodwill of the people who believed in you and entrusted you with their future, and for what, Mr. President?

Saturday, August 24, 2013

ANALYSIS | Pork scam politics

BY JD VELEZ | Blogger

The present pork barrel scam expose has appalled and enraged the nation. Filipinos are up in arms and want figuratively someone to be punished for the plunder of the country. In a weird twist of events, part of the anger has been directed at the president who won on the platform of good governance.

Suddenly, the president is on the unusual situation of being portrayed as pro-pork barrel  that even his move to abolish the pork has not at all calmed down an angry population. His political enemies are trying to capitalize on the people's anger and ride on their disgust.

Their main argument is the non-inclusion of the president's own pork barrel which amounts to billions of pesos. Adding to cast doubt on the president is the fact that the  COA Report on the PDAF abuse covered the period prior to the first three years of his presidency. It, again, highlighted corruption during the administration of Gloria Arroyo. If the PDAF is abused, it must have persisted well into Aquino's administration as nothing has been changed with the way it was disbursed.

Aquino, unlike his parents, is a pragmatist, a believer in realpolitik. To win loyalty of congress he resorted to the same tricks used by his predecessors - dangle pork barrel funds in exchange for their support. He could have walked the talk and took the moral high ground but it would have left him isolated and unable to end Arroyo's hold on Congress.

Today, his enemies know their chance to replace him in 2016 is to demolish his and his parents' image of heroism and self-sacrifice for the nation. Even Binay knows he cannot be president at the rate Aquino is enjoying support. Only a less than stellar Aquino presidency would assure that the next president wouldn't be an Aquino endorsee.

Binay is in a fix. On one hand is his loyalty to Cory, on the other is his ambition to be president. And many surround him for a chance at another shot at power in 2016.

In the meantime, Janet Lim-Napoles who is in the center of this controversy is nowhere. The administration better find her soon or someone else's head will roll to appease the public. People are not exactly interested in her. They know she was mere conduit and that their lawmakers are involved.

PROFILE | Cebu City, Queen City of the South

Cebu's port is home to most of the Philippines' shipping companies. It's not surprising as Cebu City has been, historically, the center of commerce, education, entertainment and information of Southern Philippines. It is also the administrative, ecclesiastical and cultural capital of the region.

THE ISLAND | SanFran is Disaster Resilient : UN

In May 2011, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) recognized San Francisco's disaster preparedness and awarded it the Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction for its “indigenous solutions to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation through its Purok system.”

ECONOMY | It's More Prosperous in the Philippines ... soon.

The Philippines and Peru will be among emerging economies that become much more prominent in the next few decades, helped by demographics and rising education standards, with the Philippines set to leapfrog 27 places to become the 16th largest economy by 2050, HSBC predicts.

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HISTORY | Demystifying Jose Rizal

The question is, could Rizal walk the talk? Even in his writing, he debated with himself between peaceful reform and bloody uprising. If Spain didn't throw him in prison and executed him, would he have become a hero?