The Law is catching up with what may be hundreds of politicians who are likely to have made a killing skimming hefty “living allowances” off the ‘Priority Development Assistance Funds’ (more commonly known as the pork barrel). Senator Jinggoy Estrada, for one, issued what some call a preemptive palusot reportedly saying that he fears that “unscrupulous elements” may prod scam suspect Janet Lim Napoles to implicate him in the imbroglio…
Estrada, however, did not identify who these “elements” are, but described them as “powerful.”
The son of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said he has “no issue” with Napoles surrendering to President Benigno Aquino III.
“Ako naman, I believe in the integrity of the President,” he said.
He further said that he has “nothing to hide” and expressed confidence that he can clear his name “in the proper forum.”
Senatorial preemptive palusot
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
To use the Queen’s English, it seems a lot of senators and House representatives are shittin’ bricks. Auditors, investigators, and activists are on their tails and alleged mastermind Janet Lim Napoles could squeal any time.
But the problem really lies at the source — where it all begins: the budget proposal issued by the Office of the President. Indeed, the buck stops at President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III. An IBON Foundation report noted that pork under BS Aquino ballooned in size, all but dwarfing budget allocations of previous administrations…
The bigger the fund, the greater room for corruption and misuse, IBON said, noting that PDAF in the Aquino administration’s first national budget proposal for 2011 more than doubled by Php 13.9 billion or 128.5% from Php 10.9 billion in 2010 to Php 24.8 billion. Legislative PDAF has further risen to Php 25.24 billion in the proposed 2014 national budget.
The research group stressed that even the itemized and supposedly reformed PDAF, described in the President’s speech last month as abolishing lawmakers’ PDAF, is still pork barrel in character. This is also on top of at least Php 500 billion in special purpose funds, unprogrammed funds, off-budget items and other ambiguous funds that are prone to be used for patronage politics and self enrichment. Huge lump sums in the budget set aside for the discretion of a few lawmakers and the President goes on to spell an elite system of decision-making over public funds, said the group.
The House of Representatives led by Speaker Sonny Belmonte have scrambled to cover their asses as well following a presidential directive to the Speaker to “assess the removal of the Priority Development Assistance Fund”. In a late-breaking news report, the Inquirer.net revealed that “members of the Liberal Party decided on Monday to eliminate the P25.24 billion lump sum allocation for the much-debated ‘pork barrel’.”
In a weekly caucus presided by Belmonte Monday morning, the over 100 party members in the House of Representatives agreed to remove the P25.24-billion lump sum appropriation for the discretionary fund.
BS Aquino may have to start honing his ‘acting surprised’ act.
What is really interesting, however, is the pork received by BS Aquino while he was a member of Congress. As Manila Standard columnist Jojo Robles writes, this is very relevant considering he is wanting to be seen to be on top of the national situation as this high-profile corruption scandal rocks his Daang Matuwid administration…
For too long, people have wondered if Aquino, during his Congress years, was ever a “client” of Janet Lim Napoles. The rumors have been given traction by the supposed speed with which Aquino acted on the April 17 letter that Napoles sent to him, which lambasted the National Bureau of Investigation for allegedly harassing Napoles’ brother Benjamin; that the letter has been “lost” has made the Aquino-Napoles link even more compelling.
For the matter of that, why doesn’t CoA also disclose the audited pork expenditures of former and current lawmakers close to Aquino, like Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr. and Senate President Franklin Drilon? That would certainly make for interesting reading.
The overarching point here is that Filipinos seem to be in the midst of a media-induced tunnel-visioned fixation on Napoles even as the issue of a far bigger system of government thievery begs to be addressed. Indeed, every politician is pretty much a suspect which means that even calls to launch protest actions to express public outrage over this scandal have become challenging — because leadership for most major “movements” have traditionally been traceable to politicians. The so-called Black and White (B&W) Movement, is a case in point here. The B&W Movement traces its roots to the old Patalsikin Na, Now Na protest frenzy that lasted through much of the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA).
Back then, the B&W Movement upheld a very simplistic position with regard to how they presume to classify members of Congress. As I wrote back in 2007…
True enough, despite pages and pages of blurb on the need for “reform” all over the Black & White Movement website, it all came down to this statement by “helga” (one of the B&WM owners) in a comment in their blog:
[…]it would be a no brainer list, really. Everyone from Team Arroyo would be on the Black List. No fun in that.
This was referring to how the Movement presumes to classify Philippine politicians into Black (no-vote) and White (yes-vote!) as a “guide” to the electorate in their efforts to “elect into Congress men and women of moral courage…”. To which they add “…who will exact accountability from the GMA regime for the unabated corruption and extrajudicial killings”.
Very powerful words there. Unfortunately, whatever cojones these self-described “reform activists” possessed back then seems to have since all but dissolved in the Yellow Kool-Aid they’ve been drinking. Indeed, no less than the e-Mandirigma himself Mr Vicente “Enteng” Romano coughed up a flaccid excuse for B&W Movement’s deafening silence today in the face of the vast scale of Congressional thievery being progressively revealed today…
Unlike militant groups, Black and White is not anti-establishment. While we started that way during the time of GMA, we have evolved into a good governance advocate. Which means we do not limit ourselves to being critical of government. We also work with or within government to push for meaningful reforms.
Some of our original conveners are now with government, in positions where they can push hard for the reforms we have been fighting for in the streets in years past. It’s no easy task but they do their best to reform a government badly needing of overhaul, even when they are shackled by red tape and a slow-moving bureaucracy.
True, they are deemed resigned or on leave of absence from Black and White Movement. Still, they are able to give us valuable insights on current national issues, providing us with a more holistic perspective.
Proved her worth at Pickin’ the Winner
What can I say?
Old activists don’t die. They just get appointed to government when their manok wins.
Right Manolo?
To give some credit to the Second Aquino Administration, BS Aquino’s minions aren’t really as stupid as many people now believe. As Ben Kritz notes in his article And Just Like That, the Concept of “Social Media Revolution” Dies Choking on the Astroturf, selecting these old stalwarts of anti-GMA ocho-ocho “activism” was a stroke of Yellow management genius…
There was already some evidence of an effort by the Administration to ‘hijack’ the [Million People March to Luneta] protest last Monday with the appearance (appropriately given an abundance of attention by the government-backing media) of well-known Aquino apologists such as Jim Paredes and Mae Paner, the catcalls and jeers directed at former Chief Justice Renato Corona which were apparently instigated by Administration supporters planted in the crowd, and this simpering paean to Aquino posted in the hours before the demonstration by “social media expert” Cocoy Dayao, which was seized upon by both of Malacañang’s Designated Talking Persons as evidence of genuine support from the public. Whatever else can be said about the Aquino Machine, their grasp of the importance and potential of social media as a propaganda tool is formidable, and well it should be: Social media management is the responsibility of the unctuous, ethically-challenged, but extremely intelligent Manuel L. Quezon III, the third and clearly the most adept of the three Cerberus heads of the Palace Comm Group.
And so, for the simmering outrage we now see over pork thievery to deliver concrete outcomes, a bit of creativity is in order to come up with more innovative forms of activism. “Social media activism” in the Philippines, unfortunately, has been all but made impotent by rampant inbreeding amongst a small clique of social media “experts”. Old-style bricks-and-mortar activism has been infested by costumed circus acts. And big-time politicos whose presence and endorsement once lent credibility to protest movements are now part of the line-up of suspects in what could be the next big tele-trial event since the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Interesting times ahead. If only Filipinos possessed the sort of world-class imagination to reap the mother lode of opportunity that comes with this latest national scandal.
[Photo of President BS Aquino courtesy DPReview.com.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Wow! Thanks!
Is it true that in the Republic of the Philippines candidates running for National and local office KILL their opponents? if the answer is YES(Cool!)? Why would that be? IF the answer is to get their hands on the keys to the treasury(Cooler!), then it can reasonably follow that YES, EVERYONE of them is involved(TA-DA!).
Good title for the essay then.
The finger pointing starts, 4-3-2-1……NOW!
if only we can take this opportunity to change…but the saddest thing with this turn of event, people don’t seem to care. 🙁
Pnoy is like a dumb oversize tot holding on to his lollipop enticing officials to play with him, and whatever he wants he gets…or else.
I myself the anger was on the senators and congressmen…jln is nothing but peanuts…true she made billions but she was unscrupulous,unprincipled enough to be picked by these spin master of the kind of jinggoy, bong, bongbong…just the nicks make me throw up…proved to be halfwits morons…I would rally everyday to get them pilloried by the balls.
Featured image is the Animal Farm! Hilarious Benigs!
I’ve used Animal Farm as the blanket theme in most of my articles about the pork barrel scam.
Look who’s laughing all the way to the bank…
“…it seems a lot of senators and House representatives are shittin’ bricks.”
I disagree. They’ve been hate fucking their fellow Filipinos for years, and their fellow Filipinos just took it in the ass and smiled.
“This is no social crisis. This is you having fun.” – The Who (Another Tricky Day)
I think that more accurately describes the overall mood of the Philippine congress. They’ve raped the Filipinos for years and fooled them into thinking it was love. All they need to do now is to give their rape victims some chocolates, flowers, and an “I Love You” card and all will be good, just like in times past.
I will have to agree with you on that. Polticians WILL find away to immunise themselves from any repercussions from the scandal because Pinoys are simply too greased in the rear end to give a flyin’ frick. Pinoy officials have turned Teflon Governance into a fine art and if there is a fine art Pinoys are known for, it is around keeping a stupid grin plastered all over their sweaty faces while they are stolen blind by the “oligarchs” and “imperialists” they love to pretend to hate.
Sir, if the Filipino people just surrounded the Palace and Senate and demanded they all resign or face treason and crimes against the people charges, or worse….the pols would have no choice, NO? the Senate is right by the Mall of Asia, but IDK where the Palace is.
The people just aren’t mad enough?
Pinoys can never get mad enough as long as gigantic networks like ABS-CBN and big-time movie production companies are around piping mind-dulling content into their living rooms, computers, and mobile devices…
Great call on the The Who song. : 1) it fits 2) I will get LSS the rest of the day.
The pork barrel was, and still is being used to fund the New People’s Army(NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Font(MILF). The dictator BS Aquino made the first move in the still secret Tokyo peace talks with the MILF. The Department of Budget and Management will release on orders of Mr. Aquino funds to the enemies of the state. Politicians use pork to campaign or get elected with the assistance of the NPA of course. This is common knowledge.
typo error: font should be front.
Now he is Dictator who sponsors terrorists, huh?
What is he planning? to take over his own government?
Lay off the Shabu dude.it makes humans delusional and paranoid, its common knowledge.
You are really irritating. You know what, Edwin or whatever your name is. Your dictator has funded the MILF and that is news, or let us just pretend it didn’t happen.
People here stated facts and sited their opinions from the stated fact.
If you are going to disagree with a point then you can just say you disagree because……. That is the whole point of this comments section rather than burbling nonsensical sentences which has “dude” in it. Or better yet, since you cannot even make your point stick and just muddling the comments section, go and do things what the taxpayers’ money paid you to do and not troll the site. Thank you.
@Bjorn
Read the corrected site to know that BS Aquino likes the NPA. You think he does not fund the NPA through the DBM?
Kalutang.blogspot.com/2011/07/communist-creeping-invasion.html
Ha, thatssa laugh. You two dummies insist on calling someone something even a 5th grader knows he isn’t, and do it as if you life depends on it or because your self-esteem level is even lower than the sewer and you got the zits on your face to call me irritating? Ya clue-less zit for brains??? Now you’ve even got your idiot buddy T.J. telling me what to google search as if I might ever. Holy Enchi-LAH-DA!
This guy T.J. is even calling me a ‘yellow troll’ and that he thinks I work for Noy-Noy and you think I work for some guy named “Edwin”. I am really laughing my ass off at both of you guys with your paranoid delusions. I figured you guys for lightweight SHABU sniffers, BUT Then those last couple of comments WHOA!!! IDK but I hear SHABU is pretty WICKED-ASS and you two should definitely put the frikkin PIPE down.
@Bjorn
You sure know current events in this country boy! You must be a yellow cyborg right? Why don’t you research Mr. BS Aquino? His parents were into it too. Who had an informal alliance with Jose Maria Sison? Ninoy Aquino. Who released Jose Maria Sison? Cory Aquino. Who released the NPA Morong 43 despite strong evidence of the AFP? BS Aquino. Who is supporting the Moro Islamic Liberation Front? BS Aquino! I like pattern recognition and connecting the dots. Here is some indigestion for you yellow cyborg:
http://www.josemariasison.org/?p=5114
http://www.josemariasison.org/?p=3225
kalutang.blogspot.com/2011/07/communist-creeping-invasion.html
type it in google search as corrected:
Kalutang.blogspot.com/2011/07/communist-creeping-invasion.html
Last try. Please erase if it does not work or… try typing this in the google search window.
http://www.Kalutang.blogspot.com
I wonder what the Aquino Administration is conjuring right at this moment…
It’s kinda funny that while the administration seems to be on the offensive against pork barrel and corruption in gov’t. it’s critics are in an awkward situation finding itself aligned with the gov’t’s effort to meet the issues head on.
PNoy seems to have the upper hand on this Napoles saga.
In last week’s march against pork barrel, Corona tried to hit the spotlight by joining but ended up being booed instead. He thought he could gain traction by reminding people that he’s the living example why pork barrel is wrong. Unfortunately, the only wrong thing seen by the people was his presence there.
Same thing here. Some critics on this blog, can’t seem to get a grip on how to attack PNoy and be taken seriously. Right now, PNoy’s intent to have his own pork barrel preserved is the only realistic issue that can be taken against him on corruption. So far, he has succeeded in silencing the antis on his handling of Napoles.
Every day, PNoy seems to be getting the best out of the Napoles scam. How long he can maintain this is anybody’s guess. In the meantime, Malacanang seems to be right on track and on top on the situation.
“It’s kinda funny that while the administration seems to be on the offensive against pork barrel and corruption in gov’t.”
No, the admin was never against pork barrel and corruption, they are actually busy right now finding ways how to appease the general population, hence, the staged surrender of Napoles. You ijets!!!! Napoles will turn witness no matter how impossible because your “not dictator” will want it, and she will sing like Pavarotti, condemning the administration’s political enemies, but not his “kakampi”.
Are you really that dull not to see through Pnoy’s telenovela or is your name Edwin?
I would like to respond on the above but since the piece was framed in a rude manner I think I have to pass. No, thank you.
@Leb, can you believe these two zit-heads ,T.J. & JoelD? I/we just tried to enlighten them on the definition of a word(Dictator) and they go off on a whole series of these irrelevant tangents, call us names (as if we are ‘yellow trolls’, LMAO!), suggest we’re both working for Ed Lacierda (I wouldn’t know the guy if I ran him over!) that I am a spam-bot and that we are getting paid to try to tell them Aquino is not a Dictator (he isn’t). All of that out of the simple definition of a word, BWAH-HA-HA-AHAHAHAHAHAA. I suspect, but could not care less if they are, heavy SHABU smoking. TRAGIC.
Dumalo sa September 11 EDSA tayo para maalis na ang pork barrel.
So, napoles knows no politician
No politician knows napoles
Her lawyer knows nothing
Napoles will say nothing.
Napoles is a simple person and a victim of media heresay.
such virtuous people!
Ignorance is bliss, and a sure sign of guilt
Napoles is just another typical FLIP full of GREED and IGNORANCE who should just be put in jail and left to ROT in this ROTTEN
country…the Philippines …the JOKE of ASIA
pnoy and his incompetents are making a pigs ear of things at the moment, whilst his kkk, and allies are buying silk purses with taxpayers money.
a lot of cracks are appearing in pnoys administration, not just with pork barrel, and getting wider all the time.
soon the substandard ‘straight path’ will disappear completely as the ground swallows it up.
Well, truly, the line ‘every one is a suspect’ in the title has merits on it. The pork barrel has given every one a bad name, including PNoy. And since everyone is a suspect a blur was created as to who really are the real suspects and who are not. Who are those that actually partnered with Napoles in committing the scam, if true, and who are those who are just being partnered by mobs who are out to take advantage of the melee?
Each day that passes will slowly reveal the real story of the Napoles scandal and the principal characters that were responsible for it. Right now, it would be best to decipher, examine, validate, confirm and cross check statements of people who shares their two-cents on the issue because more often than not they are gossip ridden and hallucination driven.
Sorry, it’s Leb not Len.
You make it sound like among the suspects, Pnoy is the least guilty. Stop being an apologist for Pnoy. Your color is showing.
To you, a rabid anti-PNoy zombie, it sounded like that. I can rephrase it differently and it will sound the same to you. You’re no zombie for nothing.
Yeah right.
And to you Pnoy is the most innocent.
I will be against any politician, Pnoy or not if he or she is acts and decides like your idol.
Why do you speak for about PNoy? How did you know that I’m for PNoy? Just because I disagree with PNoy zombies like you I’m already for PNoy?
Here’s the truth that I’m sure you will not believe: pro-PNoy are people like you whose day will not be complete if you cannot say bad against the guy. For people like you, PNoy is an aphrodisiac. You cannot get by without him. You feel good to talk about him on any write-ups regardless of the topic because you get high on him.
The day the writers in this blog stop talking about PNoy is the day when people like you will suffer withdrawal. That would be the day you will say kill me now than be free from PNoy.
Me, I don’t care what happen to PNoy because I’m not here for him, I’m here for ideas, opinion and sharing.
It’s not proper for you to be rude and disrespectful just because you disagree with me. You don’t know me to speak for me in the first place. You can bash PNoy all you want if it makes you happy, but I cannot cheer you for doing so because, unlike you, I don’t think of PNoy every time I post here. I just think.
You see Leb, I wouldn’t be speaking against Pnoy if not for his more than three years of mediocre performance. Calling people here as rabid anti-pnoy zombie is as much as unthinking as you can get. Most of the people here are not against a specific person, but against mediocrity. Now if you are saying that Pnoy should be commended for his mediocre if not stupid performance as a head of state then site instances where you can try to convince people to think otherwise, instead of shooting blanks.
And that goes not only for Pnoy but the Filipino people as a whole.
You see yourself as thinking, right, and you say Pnoy is not connected (or at least, a bit) in anyway to the PDAF issue. So do your own reading and you can connect the dots yourself. That is what thinking is all about, but if you wait for a piece of paper which defines things black and white, then you are not thinking at all.
I repeat, this is not for your idol Pnoy alone, if you backread the articles on this site, you’ll get it.
Well, joeld, go back to my original post and give me one proof that I even insinuated that PNoy was the most innocent on whatever. If you can do that we have a conversation, if not we move on.
I simply cannot allow myself to be used by you just so you can have a PNoy fix for the day. You want to get high get it from the pro-PNoy people.
@Leb
I am BS Aquino’s worst nightmare. Believe me he likes shabu once in a while. I know and you don’t
Thomas, good for you and I’m happy that, like joeld, who admitted that he’s corrupt, you know a lot about BS Aquino and proud of it.
Me, I have no proof and definitely I can never admit that BS Aquino is innocent or corruptt simply because, unlike you, I don’t know anything about him.
The only people who can do that, aside from the pro-BS Aquino crowd, are the likes of you and joeld. Good luck guys. Hope you’ll be able to tell us more about BS Aquino. Good perfect day for you guys!
Well, you read what you wrote. You connected the dots ans instead of getting the image of kite, you get a pineapple.
To me you are just another siomai.
Pnoy fix? YOu really are an ijet. I have been paying my taxes for decades, most of it under the aquino regime, being high on bashing Pnoy is the least of my concerns. It is the poor returns of my tax money, which is substantial in my terms, btw.
Using you? Did somebody force you in anyway to go comment on this site? Hell the discussions here would be better without you muddling all the ideas here with your way of connecting the dots. Obviously you are just here for that, eh? So, Edwin, or whatever you name is, go do something good with my taxes, will you and not troll this site?
The two of ’em are high all right. In the next comment box down T.J. is so delusional that he thinks he is Aquino’s worst nightmare, Holy Shit. He is walking around thinking that the President of a country actually thinks about him.
IDK much about the drug world so I did not spot it sooner but if you read these two guys posts, oh yeah, OH YEAH! WOWO. In L.A. they call ’em ‘TWEAKERS’, and they are the worst. Ignore them, trying to explain/talk to OR reason w/ a ‘TWEAKER’ is impossible.
@Bjorn
You are really a piece of work. I have inside dope in Malacanang Palace. Your favorite civilian dictator plus oligarch is a shabu junkie. Live with you idiot!
@Bjorn
I am BS Aquino’s uncle you dork. I never supported him. I also never voted for him. What I said was the truth. BS is really into shabu. I should know.
@ T.J.,
Let me see, You imagine that the President of a 3rd world banana republic dreams about you negatively, AND that you know he is a SHABU user(I’d have to guess that PURE COCAINE would be more like the taste of a wealthy-as-it-gets guys style, a guess only, not delusional fact, though.). You also NOW claim that he is your Nephew and that the definition of ‘DICTATOR’ is also the same as the word “Oligarch”. any other fantasies? Oh, and lest its forgotten, yeah, You’ve got ‘the inside dope on Malacanang Palace”, (pats on the head)”sure you do” says the man with net wearing the white suit. HOLY SHIT!
AND YOU have the nerve to call me a piece of work? all because I walk around tellin people that “I AM HIS SISTER” (NOT!)?
Hey you were warned about that shit, so now LMAO BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! at YOU!
NOW, EXCUSE ME, MY RIBS HURT! LOL!
Thomas Jefferson – “I am BS Aquino’s uncle…”
==========
To be honest, never in my posting days here that I experienced to laugh really hard. There are some trying hard who, in an effort to express themselves and not be judge for what they are, tries to be funny by making stupid statements just to illicit laughter and divert attention. But I tell you, the post above takes the cake.
It’s so funny that……e’fajp
The last line was when I fell on my chair for laughing while typing at the same time. Sorry.
@Bjorn/Leb
You better believe it. I am his uncle. Many times I almost belted that spoiled brat in Malacanang.
Right! and I am VERY happy for you but(I don’t HAVE to do anything you say.)…..
“HUH, what?”. “NO, wait…”.
“Wait , wtf is that noise? OMG! Look out,the guys
with the nets are closing in!!! Holy Chit, there
coming in the window. OMG!”.
But seriously, its going to all be OK.
The latest from the Manila Times… More indigestion for the yellow trolls:
http://www.manilatimes.net/was-it-a-special-audit-hijacked-to-be-a-demolition-job/36319/
http://www.manilatimes.net/dbm-cover-up-in-coa-s-pork-barrel-report/35550/
Pork barrel scam? What’s that? Its ‘ber’ months already, kalimutan na yan, mag papasko na! Time to think about bonus, shopping, and Christmas parties! Most Filipinos may have forgotten already, as the Senate investigation takes a break. Before the anger dies down, the Senate must call Janet Napoles to appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and share what she knows about the anomaly that she allegedly is the mastermind.