Category: Crime

PNoy’s reason for keeping the PDAF is weak, pork barrel should be abolished

August 23, 2013August 23, 2013 Ilda 46 Comments

The number of Filipinos who are getting fed up with Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III is definitely growing. As Churchill would say, he has all the virtues they dislike and none of the vices they admire. Granted, there are still those who are in denial of the likelihood that BS Aquino personally benefits…

Crime, Government, Politics

PDAF and the jeepney: Why the pork barrel should be abolished

August 22, 2013August 22, 2013 benign0 32 Comments

I think the pork barrel should be abolished. Some people think some people have benefited from pork barrel money and that abolishing it will be like throwing the baby out along with the bath water. Perhaps. But that is really the sort of Robin Hood mentality that has no place in a modern 21st Century…

Crime, Government, Politics

Wouldn’t it be great to see handcuffed senators walked out of their homes by NBI agents?

August 20, 2013August 20, 2013 benign0 12 Comments

As indignation-fuelled momentum mounts in the lead-up to the planned “million people march” to the Luneta Grandstand at 9 a.m. on the 26th August, Monday, the obvious question What happens next? comes to mind owing to the immense challenge of bringing erring senators and House representatives to justice. The scale of the outrage over the…

Crime, Politics

Questions that must be answered before the rally to abolish pork barrel

August 19, 2013 FallenAngel 29 Comments

I would have to say that the outrage being shown at the persisting pork barrel anomalies – at least in social media as far as I can see – is both unprecedented, and quite frankly, a bit astonishing. There are calls to assemble at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta on August 26, 2013, to call…

Civics, Crime, Government, Society

Pork Barrel Redux: DBM Secretary Abad Confirms “Douchebaggery” as Official Administration Policy

August 18, 2013 BenK 20 Comments

Lest anyone is tempted to buy the desperate attempt of the current occupant of Malacañang (to the extremely limited extent he has had anything at all to say about it) that abuse of the pork barrel is something that only happened when OTHER people were in charge, here’s a reminder from a little more than…

Crime, Politics

Unprecedented call to abolish pork barrel in Philippine Congress precedes ‘million people march’ on August 26

August 18, 2013 benign0 38 Comments

I am normally ambivalent to calls for street protests organised around objects of “outrage” that could have been mitigated or prevented if Filipinos had simply participated in democratic governance properly and intelligently (such as voting wisely and applying a critical mind to politicians’ trite populist rhetoric). So I have mixed feelings about the latest call…

Crime, Government, Media, Society

Many Philippine politicians are corrupt because Filipinos allow it

August 17, 2013August 19, 2013 Ilda 127 Comments

Philippine society’s dysfunctional culture is evident yet again in the latest scandal involving some members of Philippine Congress and how they channel their Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or “pork barrel funds” into bogus projects. The fact that a lot of Filipinos have predicted that the main character in this sorry saga, Janet Lim Napoles,…

Crime, Politics

Why Janet Lim Napoles is the perfect fall-guy in the Philippines’ P10-bn pork barrel scam

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013 benign0 60 Comments

Janet Lim Napoles is now on the run. That makes her the perfect fall guy for the P10-billion “pork barrel scam” that is rocking the Philippines’ political establishment. A high-profile fugitive attracts all the attention and, not necessarily living up to the principle of scientific criminal investigation, all law enforcement resources. Never mind that the…

Crime, Government, Media, Politics