GRPundit

"Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives." - Sec. 1, Art. XI, ACCOUNTABILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICERS, 1987 Constitution. Ano po ang ibig sabihin nito? Ang ibig pong sabihin nito ay ang LAHAT NG OPISYAL AT EMPLEYADO NG GOBYERNO na pinagkatiwalaan ng pondo, pera o anumang resources o asset ng bayan ay may tungkuling panagutan at i-report ang lahat ng nangyari sa mga pondo, pera, resources o asset na ipinagkatiwala natin sa kanilang pag-iingat, pati na rin ang magbigay ng malinaw na accounting sa mga ito. May tungkulin SILANG LAHAT na ipaliwanag sa atin kung paano ginamit ang mga iyon nang mabuti, walang tapon, walang sayang at walang ninakaw. Mayroon po bang exception dito? Wala po. Ang mga tungkuling ito at responsibilidad ay mandato ng ating Constitution, Walang sinumang...

Here is a elegantly simple and effective solution to the problem of "pork barrel", one which you will never hear from the likes of President BS Aquino or most of the people sitting in Congress: When a legislator has a "pet project" he or she would like to have funded - i.e., one that would be funded under the current scheme using the PDAF, a request for budget inclusion must be made to the appropriate agency. So, for example, construction of a school building is requested from DepEd, a new barangay health center is requested from the DOH, yet another covered basketball court must be approved by DPWH, and so on. If the concerned agency is sufficiently convinced of the value of the project (either on merit, or, let's be realistic, through the lobbying efforts of the Congressman or Senator involved), it is included in the agency's overall budget as a line item, one that does not specifically refer to the legislator who presented it (although, again being real...

I had one of those Coach McGuirk-like "I'm just learning this as I'm saying it" moments a little while ago after commenting on the latest column by my friend Jojo Robles at the Manila Standard Today , and I think I made a validly-debatable point: As much as the suspicion that the recent rash of bombings throughout Mindanao (five in the past two weeks) are a diversionary tactic to draw attention from the growing "pork barrel" corruption scandal is understandable, given the now almost non-existent credibility of President BS Aquino III and his Administration, it is highly unlikely that they are anything but the terrorists attacks they appear to be. As I commented earlier: ...What people are missing, I think, is the dire implications of them [the bombings] -- the "peace deal" is a sham, not accepted by a significant number of the people affected by it, and these bombings are the start of an even more unstable period in Mindanao. That's why t...