We Deserve to Know the Truth!

The word of my idol Ninoy Aquino, Jr. when I was yet student, "the truth will set us free".

DAP use to stimulate economic growth:

The best way to prove that the projects implemented under the DAP are really for purposes of stimulating the economic growth of the country and done above board, it must be properly and specially audited by the Commission on Audit (COA) to show that there was no misusing of public funds. PNoy could have initiated such move immediately after it was exposed. But up to now he has not done so.

More intriguing here is that when a group known as the “abolishpork movement” asked the COA for an audit of the projects under the DAP, COA Chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan, an appointee of P-Noy, peremptorily turned them down. The group is asking for an audit of the projects because:

“While DAP claims to be an economic stimulus program, several of the projects included in the DBM submissions could hardly be considered as having a positive impact on economic growth. Too many items appear to be in line with presidential pork spending and as such are very vulnerable to corrupt practices like those that attended the congressional pork or PDAF” In refusing the special audit, Tan said that funds released through the DAP are already being regularly audited even before the request was made and their findings have been so far reported out. So, she said there is “no need for a special audit similar to what is being done with the PDAF of senators and congressmen from 2007 to 2009.”

“If the findings have really been reported out, the public would really been interested to know about them particularly on the following questionable projects amounting to about P60 billion listed down by the abolishpork movement headed by Sister Mary John Mananzan: (1) P5.432 billion compensation balance given to the owners of Hacienda Luisita who are relatives of the President; (2) P1.819 billion disbursed to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP); (3) P5.5 billion for various infrastructure projects; (4) P 6.5 billion support fund under DILG; (5) P8.592 billion for the ARMM transition and support plan; (6) P250 million Performance Challenge Fund; (7) P6.5 billion to augment existing PDAF; (8) P2 billion national road projects for Tarlac; (9) P1.8 billion Tulay ng Pangako sa Kaunlaran Program (10) P5 billion Tourism road infrastructure project; (11) P8.295 billion priority local projects nationwide; and (12) P1.6 billion for the capability requirements of the Philippine Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea.” By Atty. Jose C. Sison of Phil. Star (Play Acting Feb. 21, 2014).

Journalist Killed:

PNoy played a gruesome numbers game of his own, saying that the alarming number of journalists killed in the Philippines would not be such a big concern if we subtracted the 32 of them who were slaughtered in the Maguindanao massacre. He also said the figures cited by human rights and press groups were inflated because some of those killed were not really journalists, and included “a driver of a network, employees of fly-by-night newspapers and a block timer selling skin whiteners,” though in his 3-year reign, twenty-seven journalists have been killed under the Aquino Administrations as of Dec. 18, 2013.

Economic growth and GDP:

The administration also likes to brag about what it has done to improve the country’s economic growth, citing the rise in gross domestic product and other indicators, as well as improvements in the Philippines’ rating among international debt rating agencies.  But you know the convincing observation made recently by Jesse Colombo of Forbes, that the growth touted by the Aquino administration is a bubble largely driven by cheap credit and consumption, and remittances from Filipinos who are working in the United States and other countries that are experiencing bubbles of their own. Government officials led by the governor of the central bank have sought to deflect these observations, but cannot obscure the ring of truth and realism they bring.

Commentaries from the government’s economic managers, who downplayed as minimal the impact on the economy of the recent natural calamities, particularly Super typhoon Yolanda. Officials cannot downplay the devastation in Eastern Visayas as having a minimal effect on the entire economy. The economic impact of the devastation on the total GDP may not be that significant, percentage-wise, but the impact on human life and property is tremendous.

Handling of the victims of Typhoon Yolanda:

A President who goes on CNN to tell the world that the death toll from super typhoon Yolanda wasn’t as high as the initial 10,000 estimate, but closer to 2,500. This same administration then relieved the police officer who dared to offer such a high figure, but claimed this was done merely for “stress debriefing.” Unfortunately, the official count has more than doubled the President’s own estimate and continues to rise.

Pork Barrel scam’s prosecution selective:

Palace spokesman said: “The President has always said that you go where the evidence takes you. We have always said there is no partiality.” But they chose Ruffy Biazon an ally of the president who has weak case and not plunderous.  If the Aquino administration is trying to create public perception that it is not engaged in selective prosecution, then it should have chosen bigger names involving big amount to qualify for a plunder case. It could have chosen Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. who has been accused by the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino of involvement in a half-a-billion-peso pork barrel scam involving fake non-government organizations operated by a certain Godofredo Roque or Roquero. Citing Commission on Audit’s (COA) Special Audit No. 2012-2013, BMP claimed Tupas spent a total of P106 million in pork barrel funds in 2008 alone and that these were funnelled to two Roque NGOs for non-existent projects. Tupas vehemently denied any involvement in such scam, calling it a big lie and said his signature was faked. Or they could have included House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II who, according to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in his privilege speech, has been found in the COA audit to have ghost projects from his P440 millions of PDAF in his six years as congressman.

 Consistency and transparency:

 Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said because of the pending case questioning the legality of the DAP before the Supreme Court, the Palace can no longer keep its promise to make a full disclosure of DAP-funded projects. The budget chief, however, could not give a categorical answer if a full disclosure can be expected once the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the DAP. “It’s hypocritical. The President can cite projects funded by DAP in his primetime speech when he wants to defend DAP but now the government won’t release data on DAP? Abad’s argument would be ridiculous since the President spoke about DAP on primetime even if there was a pending Supreme Court case. So they cannot invoke sub judice,” Renato Reyes said. The controversial funding mechanism once again made headlines last week after Senator Jinggoy Estrada questioned the DAP-funded purchase of new vehicles for the Commission on Audit. Estrada said the purchase of service vehicles was not aligned with the intention of the government to use DAP to pump prime the economy.