Tag: impeachment

Thievery in Philippine government: The many creative ways of naming pork

October 2, 2013 benign0 4 Comments

The acronyms may change, but the principles remain the same: Executives execute, and legislators legislate. Senators who were allegedly “rewarded” by President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III were supposedly given additional “appropriations” on top of their pork barrel allocations through a Malacañang appropriations mechanism called the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Why did legislators need to…

Crime, Government, Politics

Whether called a bribe or an incentive pork barrel funds MOTIVATE Filipino politicians

October 1, 2013 benign0 25 Comments

Bribe or incentive? Why does this question even matter? For many weeks now, Filipinos have been left to sift through mounds of information pouring out of traditional media and the Net to make sense of what’s going on as more “revelations”, “confessions”, and “testimonials” emerge about who got how much. Indeed, whether it is a…

Crime, Government, Politics

The Philippines cannot progress while public servants are distracted by personal vendetta

September 28, 2013November 14, 2014 Ilda 54 Comments

One major problem in Philippine society is not so much the flawed system like what some have claimed. It is actually the fact that most Filipinos don’t have foresight or are unable to see problems that might arise in the future as a result of their actions. It most likely has something to do with…

Crime, Government, Politics

PNoy misled public on pork barrel funds: It’s still in the budget and legislators still want it

August 28, 2013October 22, 2013 Ilda 66 Comments

Tax evasion should not be a criminal offense anymore in the Philippines. After all, some of the country’s public servants, those who blatantly steal taxpayers’ money, do not get prosecuted or go to jail. It is even quite baffling how members of Congress made a big deal out of former Chief Justice Renato Corona’s undeclared…

Crime, Politics

Pork, Paybacks and Picnics

August 28, 2013August 29, 2013 John Bay 5 Comments

Droves of tax-paying citizens flocked to Luneta and other public areas around the Philippines on Monday August 26, 2013 (coinciding with National Heroes Day) to protest the “Pork Barrel” scheme and allegations of corruption perhaps triggered by the recent exposure of P10-B Napoles Pork Barrel scam. The event was largely mobilized through the social media…

Government, Politics, Society

On Booing Corona and More Misguided Outrage Fads

August 28, 2013 ChinoF 183 Comments

One of the more remarkable events that occurred during the August 26 Luneta Rally (I wonder how many of them went on the spot where the Bus Hostage Crisis happened) , was the reported booing of former Chief Justice Renato Corona when he appeared at the rally. I also noticed a lot of rabid anti-Coronans…

Politics

Why the Philippines is forever imprisoned by pork barrel politics

August 12, 2013 benign0 15 Comments

Well now, isn’t it just so not typical of Philippine Congress to shrink away from what could be a media bonanza for the vote-hungry lot. If anything, the Pork Barrel Scam is a gold mine of media mileage for any politician who has the cojones to take the reins on this one. After all, there…

Development, Government, Politics

ABS-CBN Facebook post #RememberCoryAquino backfires: slammed by commentators weary of ‘people power’ rhetoric

August 1, 2013February 18, 2022 benign0 92 Comments

A colleague of mine had the presence of mind to take a big screen capture of the epic response to ABS-CBN News’s legendary update “Cory Aquino. Democracy icon. How do you #RememberCoryAquino?” posted on its Facebook page late last night — in case it was deleted. I thought for a while that it had been…

Media, Politics