MANILA,
Philippines - Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) had issue
a manifesto on September 9, 2013 against all kinds of Pork.
The AIJC condemns in the strongest terms the pork
barrel and the corruption that it has bred, whether in the legislative or the
executive branch of government.
In the pursuit of truth and justice, we express our
outrage over an evil system that wantonly assigns huge lump sums of the
people’s money and scandalously allows these sums to be used without
accountability or transparency.
We make known our indignation over the betrayal
committed by those stewards of the people’s funds who have callously and
wrongfully enriched themselves, their families and their cohorts through their
privileged access to the pork barrel.
The pork barrel, with its discretionary and
unaccountable billions of pesos, has been shamelessly used to perpetuate power
and privilege in the midst of pervasive poverty and widespread deprivation. It
has, therefore, been an instrument in perpetuating the exclusion of the greater
mass of our people from what our Constitution envisions as a just and humane
society.
The pork barrel, by allowing legislators to be
involved in the execution of projects that they choose to fund, violates the
provisions of the Constitution on the separation of powers. It makes a mockery
of one of the foundations of our democratic system.
The pork barrel, by making legislators personally
involved in the speedy passage of the annual budget, renders them ineffective
in checking the excesses of the Executive branch when the latter presents its
proposed budget for the year. The pork barrel, therefore, interferes with the
system of checks and balances which is supposed to reduce opportunities for the
abuse of power and strengthen stability in governance.
We urgently call on the President to exercise his political and moral
ascendancy to act in the interest of the Filipino people. We exhort him to show
that he is indeed the “President of the People” by:
(1)
Demonstrating transparency by giving an account on
the legislators who have availed of their PDAF for the entire period of his
term, the purpose, and the names of beneficiaries
(2)
Leading the way by itemizing and documenting all
discretionary lump sum funds in the Office of the President’s budget
(3)
Abolishing the Priority Development Assistance Fund
(PDAF) and other lump sums like the Special Purpose Fund (SPF) from the General
Appropriations Act (GAA)
(4)
Including all off-budget funds and remittances,
such as the Malampaya Fund, remittances to the Office of the President from the
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.(PAGCOR), and Motor Vehicles User’s
Charge, in the GAA and itemizing them
with full transparency and accountability.
We call on Congress and the President to pass the
Freedom of Information Bill to help institutionalize transparency and
accountability in governance.
We call on all genuine nongovernment organizations
(NGOs) to continue their good work in helping build a progressive, peaceful,
equitable and just democratic society.
We call on our local government officials to be in
the forefront of weeding out corruption in leadership by being exemplars of
good and effective governance in their LGUs.
We call on all communication schools, academic
partners, and media agencies to continue to be vigilant so that truth may be
told.
We unite with the Filipino people as we pursue
truth and justice on this issue of the pork barrel. Let the violators be called
to account. Let the wheels of justice roll on the guilty. Let transparency and
accountability be upheld. Let us stand firm and keep faith as we safeguard our democracy.
To have your voice heard, log on to our
mobile-responsive internet channel, the Fight Corruption Channel, http://fightcorruption.nowplanet.tv
.
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