UPDATED: The only Erap policy to get support from Civil Society

It's the abolition of the Pork Barrel. To reduce CORRUPTION.

PORK BARREL SCRAPPING GAINS SUPPORT

Manila, July 13, 1998 - The Bishops-Businessmen's Conference (BBC) is in full support of President Estrada's decision to abolish the controversial "pork barrel" of legislators in a move to eliminate graft and corruption. The support was given at the end of the 22nd General Assembly and Annual Meet of the BBC at the Manila Hotel.

Scrapping the "pork barrel" is one of the radical measures being adopted by the Estrada administration in order to meet the country's financial needs. The funds, Estrada proposed, should instead go directly to projects that would benefit the poor.

The pork barrel issue has polarized the members of the House of Representatives, with blocks for and against the proposal strongly arguing their respective positions and threatening the solidarity of the President's coalition party LAMP.

Eto pa, from Bel Aquino, no erap admirer she, back in 1998. Money quote:

His other obsession -- to abolish pork-barrel politics -- is being received better by the public, because it hits at the core of Philippine official corruption.

If you read the entire Bel Aquino article, it was very negative vs. Erap. The "Let's scrap the pork barrel" idea was the only thing she complemented re erap. lol.

Not only that, but there is a consensus among pro-Arroyo (Sassy, Austero) and anti-arroyo (MLQ3, Neal Cruz) columnists that the scrapping of pork barrel is necessary in order to reduce corruption and government wasteful spending. And hey, if the abolition of the pork barrel pisses off a former tongressman like Sergio Apostol in 1998, you know you're doing the right thing:

Cutting congressional pork is another of Estrada's strategies to improve the country's finances. "Pork has made Congress a den of corruption," maintains the president-elect. He says the practice eats up 20% of the $14 billion national budget and half of that goes to payoffs to congressmen for endorsing funded public-works projects. For their part, congressmen insist pork is an effective way to funnel development funds to the countryside, which cannot otherwise get allocations from Manila. "We will not allow Estrada to abolish pork," vows Lakas congressman Sergio Apostol.

Not surprisingly, Apostol's sentiment was shared by many of the tongressmen at that time too.

So far, si Sen. Lacson, Lim at Drilon pa lang hindi tumatanggap ng pork. Sen. Lacson did a study on how pork barrel money was used, and it was determined that 50% of the money is lost or wasted due to corruption.

If we are serious about fighting corruption and we don't want to end up being the most corrupt country in Asia in the PERC survey again, then we better end the practice of pork barrel politics (where Maam arroyo is it's biggest practicioner) in our political system.

I bet the abolition of the pork barrel as an issue will be hailed by the businessmen, kahit na pro-arroyo sila. Arroyo needs the pork barrel to buy off the House members support.

What the Opposition should do:

First, after consulting with businessmen, assure them that the opposition will maintain the current economic policies with little tweaking. To the public, the opposition will vigorously pursue the fight against corruption within our politics highlighted by the scrapping of the Pork Barrel and reducing gov't spending waste. We will reform the COMELEC and the military so that they will gain the people's trust again. And as soon as gov't corruption and wasteful spending is reduced significantly, then a tax cut will be forthcomming for businesses and everybody else.

UPDATE: from Neal Cruz:

MANILA, Philippines – Members of Congress have doubled the pork barrel for themselves in the 2007 budget, from P6.240 billion to P11.445 billion. The smaller amount was the pork budget submitted by the executive department and passed by the House and the Senate; but the bicameral conference committee added P3.6 billion taken from the retirement fund of government employees. As a result, 7,000 to 8,000 employees won’t get their retirement benefits, but the pork barrel of each congressman will increase from P40 million to P70 million and that of each senator to P120 million.

The chairpersons of the Senate and House contingents to the bicam are Sen. Franklin Drilon and Rep. Joey Salceda who is now Malacañang’s chief of staff. Predictably, they are silent on why they did such a thing and are not answering the reporters’ phone calls.

All the reelectionist senatorial and congressional candidates, with the exception of Senators Panfilo Lacson and Alfredo Lim (who is running for mayor of Manila) collect their pork barrel allocations. The pork barrel system is the dirtiest and most corrupt ploy used by public officials to steal taxpayers’ money. The money is used to fund the projects of senators and congressmen but a large part (it can go up to 50 percent) of each allocation goes to the pockets of legislators and other public officials as kickbacks. The private contractors either make do with the remaining half (which is why public works projects are substandard) or overprice the projects. Either way, the taxpaying public ends up the loser.

No decent administration should have the pork barrel system because it is the fount of corruption in government. The sooner we abolish it, the better for us. But considering our legislators’ greed and lack of shame, the pork barrel will not be abolished, never if we just leave them to do it. But it can be abolished if the Constitution mandates it in a very definite and clear language; and the constitutional provision should be self-enforcing, requiring no more legislation. Otherwise, the pork barrel, like the political dynasties, will stay.

Through the “pork,” congressmen and senators are duplicating the functions of other executive agencies. Legislators have no business determining what road or bridge to construct; that’s the job of the Department of Public Works and Highways. The job of a legislator is to pass laws, not to be a duplicate secretary of public works, education, agriculture, health, etc.

But in the Philippines, it is the congressmen or senators who determine what road, bridge or school to build in their districts. No law gives them that right. But since it is the legislators who enact the budget, they can do pretty much what they want. And unless the Constitution stops them, they will continue with the pork barrel system because it’s a very lucrative—though very dirty—source of income. That is why politicians are willing to spend millions just to win an election. Once in office, they can easily recover all their election expenses from government coffers.

More: Sen. Lacson tackles the pork barrel issue in his podcast interview with PDI.