Will GMA get rid or her own "Pork Barrel"?

We heard a lot about administration supporters asking Congress to give up it's "pork barrel." But will Mrs. Arroyo give up her own "pork barrel" as well?

Angara, Enrile and Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel said President Arroyo should give up her own pork barrel, both hidden and declared, amounting to about P5 billion.

The President's pork barrel is composed of P1 billion in Contingent Fund, P1 billion in Social Funds, P500 million in intelligence fund, P2 billion in Calamity Funds and other confidential and discretionary funds.

That's a lot for a bogus president to have.

More comments from Jon_Prez:

Wow P3 billion in "calamity and contingent funds"! Wonder where all that money goes... we haven't had much natural calamities lately (man-made ang dami...)

And finally, read this warning from one of Mrs. Jose Pidal Arroyo's staunchest ally/enabler:

...Malacañang is courting social unrest and instability by pressing for the enactment of eight tax measures that would raise P80 billion and the full increase in the PPA adjustment rates on energy that would offset the P70 billion losses because, so it argues, there is no other way to avert the fiscal crisis.

In short, the Executive would want to bamboozle the public and Congress into accepting the taxes and the energy rate increases without much argument because according to them, this is not the time to discuss the whys and wherefores, or who is to blame for the mess. Instead all hands should be on deck and everyone must pitch in. Forget the past.

That won't fly. Government cannot make the public assume the burden of the fault of others without explanation. The people are not idiots.

The Executive must come clean and pin the blame squarely on whoever is at fault, not to shield them. Short of that, neither the public nor Congress is prepared to accept tax or energy increases.

The President, up to now has not summoned Napocor to account for its mess, nor has she called to task any of her fiscal and financial managers who contributed to our deficit. As if they are blame-free for our P150 billion deficit.

The President is dreaming if she expects Congress to rally and support her tax and energy measures which would plug the P150 billion debts and losses caused by the Executive branch exclusively, after she had lambasted Congress for the P20 billion pork barrel and yet has kept her own untouched. It takes two to tango, has she forgotten? She must learn from American Presidents who wheel and deal with members of the US Congress so that measures important to the country are enacted.

There's a lot of irresponsible talk about the lack of political will on the part of Congress to enact new tax measures. That is a lot of crap. As usual, Congress is being made the whipping boy.

Review the autocratic rule of President Marcos from 1972 to 1986 and one will see that however repressive the regime was, Marcos was very careful, he deliberately skirted away from tax impositions before and even after he declared a moratorium on the payment of our foreign debt obligations. Marcos had a sense of proportion. He allowed human rights violations for so long as it affected a relatively small portion in relation to the whole population, but he tiptoed on the matter of imposing more taxes because it would be felt by the entire populace.

For starters, the President should refresh herself with the cedula tax which spawned the Philippine revolution and the Boston Tea Party which planted the seeds of American Revolution. She should stop relying on her resident Rasputin from the House of Representatives who irritatingly keeps on making economic analysis of matters already known but who is absolutely ignorant of the dynamics of governance. GMA must take note of what happened to Alexandra, the Czarina of Russia.

It's interesting that Joker and others like Ralph Recto and Frank Drilon are only now speaking out against GMA. So what made them start talking now after three and a half years of silence and looking the other way?