We pause to give space to a lucid analysis of the morality of PDAF by our good FB friend Rolly Pellingon.
There's no greater mystery revealed in the Bible than this:
The TRULY converted believers are God's (divine) PROXIES in His redemptive program.
For Christians to be SILENT in this time of severe MORAL CRISIS in our country is to miss the point of their christianity:
Colossians 1:25: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Colossians 1:26: Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Colossians 1:27: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, the HOPE OF GLORY.
“PDAF is a Filthy Harlot"
by Rolly Pellingon
Just by a simple catch-phrase: “Tuwid na daan”, PNoy has fundamentally altered Philippine politics and society. The phrase does not express much intellectual content yet it captured the attention, won over the sentiments and caught the fancy of majority of the filipinos who became fed up with the incompetence and corrupt practices of previous administrations. “Straight path” does not make much literal sense, but as an analogy for honest and efficient service it created strong emotions which transported the disillusioned filipinos from their awful existence and gave them hope and visions of moral order and a better future.
On July 22, 2013, PNoy gave his 4th SONA or what we may more aptly call a long self-congratulatory speech for the long statistical gains he claims his “tuwid na daan” program has achieved in three years. PNoy emphatically pointed out: “The standard of public service is raised: only honest, capable and principled public servants will be allowed to enter and remain in public service”. True enough, PNoy is quick at mercilessly lampooning and terminating executive appointees who fail to meet his expectations. Whether it is just for show to beguile the public or not, it anyway sends shivers to the spine of his cabinet secretaries. But if PNoy is truly a fearless moral crusader, why of all did he cautiously dodge denouncing in his address the raging JLN 10-Billion despicable PDAF scam when it looms larger than the ineptness of his men? The scandal, the occasion, and the SONA venue have all afforded him the golden opportunity to take his moral crusade to a transcendent political level, but the president flinched. He chose not to antagonize Congress thus confined his SONA within the politics-as-usual nuances. Or does PNoy have his own dark side of the PDAF during his past terms as congressman and senator? This the public deserves to know. And why is the feisty Justice Secretary De Lima more passionate with the Cadavero rub-out killing than the alleged 10-Billion PDAF plunder? This we also deserve to know.
PDAF, notwithstanding its fancy name, is morally toxic, a blight, a scourge of politics. It has served less as an equalizer for the less privileged but rather as source of kickbacks for some lawmakers and tool for dominating and exploiting their constituents. In other words, PDAF promotes polarizing and dominating hierarchy rather than democratic complementation.
Let us put PDAF into proper political context. Politics per se is certainly the most ingenious and powerful social mechanism devised by humanity as opposed to tools of war. Politics correlates and harmonizes mankind’s socio-economic activities. Take away politics and man regresses to being savage. As a driving force of transformation, politics is propelled by the laws crafted by lawmakers. For better or for worse, lawmakers must faithfully bind themselves to lawmaking if only to sustain socio-economic advancement and harmony. PDAF comes as a third party in the equation. It tempts lawmakers into becoming unfaithful. Now we have an unchaste congress rocked by PDAF scandals.
The way PDAF is dispensed over the years shows it is a powerful tool for institutionalized structural abuse against the powerless. Worse, it has caused the law-making competence of our congress to decline, given the street thugs, screen actors, comedians, boxers and their likes now dominating its hall. These charlatans got seduced by the cleavage of PDAF that is why they took advantage of their popularity to transfigure into quack politicians. Even well-educated statesmen are turned into immoral simpletons by the odious yet extremely seductive PDAF. The fund hardly serves its glossed-over purpose because it is by design a filthy harlot that stimulates politics of ecstasy. Abolish the PDAF and congress will be restored to its primary purpose, under the stewardship of truly honorable and competent politicians like in the past.
It is the Executive Department that proposes PDAF in its yearly budget proposal. This explains why, despite the newest Janet Napoles 10-Billion PDAF scandal, PNoy continues to defend PDAF even if it is antithesis to the moral rectitude his “tuwid na daan” promotes, not to mention DBM secretary Abad announcing that taxpayers will continue to foot the 27-billion PDAF bill by 2014. This gives away the true moral perfection of PNoy - to him the interests of his clique still prevail over his moral crusade, never mind that the poverty level in our country has not changed during the past six years he still wants Php27-Billion of taxpayers’ money placed under the Senators’ and Congressmen’s control.
This article is just a faint voice among the many denouncing PDAF as a fatal mistake of our democracy - that it must be abolished asap. PDAF and “tuwid na daan” do not mix. Our leaders must go back to being faithful to their purpose and focused to a common vision if only for our beloved Philippines to become economically emergent. But first things first, scrap PDAF before it ticks off another Edsa crowd.
The above analysis is authored by Rolly Pellingon and is republished in this blog with his permission.