PDAF

BIDA KA!: Kuwentong snatcher

Mga Bida, habang tuluy-­tuloy ang ating pagtatrabaho ukol sa mga adbokasiya at mga panukalang batas sa Senado, diretso pa rin ang pagtutok ng Blue Ribbon Committee sa PDAF scam.

Gaya ng parating sinasabi ng isang sikat na broadcaster, ‘di natin tatantanan ang isyu hanggang lumabas ang buong katotohanan. Ito ang pangako natin sa taumbayan na siyang biktima sa katiwaliang ito.

Kamakailan, sa kasagsagan ng pagdinig ay nakipag­kuwentuhan sa akin ang isang youth leader.

Sabi niya, “Kuya, ang mga snatcher, madudungis, madudumi at mukhang palabuy-laboy sa lansangan. At ang nanakawin sa iyo, siguro cellphone o wallet mo lang.”

“Pero ang mga sangkot sa iskandalo sa PDAF, ang aayos tingnan, malilinis, mababango at nakatira sa mga mansyon. Iyon pala ay bilyun-bilyon ang ninakaw sa kaban ng bayan,” dagdag pa ng youth leader.

Nakuha ko agad ang punto ng youth leader. Dapat tayong maging mapanuri sa lahat ng tao, lalo na iyong mga tini­tingala sa lipunan.

Gaya na lang ng sinasabing utak sa PDAF scam na si Janet Lim Napoles. Isa siyang iginagalang na miyembro ng alta-­sosyedad. Iyon pala, ang perang winaldas niya ay mula pala sa pinaghirapan ng taumbayan.

Nariyan din si Delfin Lee, ang may-ari ng ilang mala­laking condominium units at subdivisions sa Kamaynilaan at ­kalapit-lalawigan.

Sa estado niya sa buhay, hindi mo maiisip na sangkot pala siya sa pagkawala ng halos pitong bilyong pisong pondo ng Pag-IBIG.

Kaya mga Bida, maging mapagbantay tayo sa lahat ng ating nakakasalamuha.

***

May isa pa akong kuwento tungkol sa mga snatcher.

Ang grupo ni Rustie Quintana ay notoryus na mga ­snatcher at gangster sa Cagayan de Oro.

Dahil sa kanilang mga kalokohan, ilang beses nang nag­labas-masok si Rustie at ang mga kasama niya sa programa ng Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) para sa mga juvenile delinquent.

Nangangarap na magbago, minsang umakyat si Rustie ng puno at tinanaw ang Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, sabay malakas na sinabing “balang araw ay mag-aaral ako ­diyan.”

Malakas na tawanan lang ang tinanggap ni Rustie mula sa kapwa batang kalye, ngunit hindi nasira ang kanyang loob at ipinangako sa sarili na gagawing katuparan ang kanyang ­pangarap.

Nabigyan ng pagkakataong mabago ang buhay ni Rustie at ng kanyang mga kasama nang tulungan sila ng youth organization sa Cagayan de Oro na may pangalang Dire Husi.

Sa ilalim ng programang “Arts Ville,” tinitipon ang mga batang kalye at tinuturuan sila ng sining upang mailayo sila sa bisyo at kriminalidad patungo sa kanilang pagbabago.

Nanalo sina Rustie at ang Dire Husi ng Ten Outstanding Youth Organization (TAYO) Awards dahil sa kanilang misyon noong 2012.

Nang parangalan sila sa Malacañang, lumapit sa akin si Rustie at sinabing, “Kuya hindi ko akalain na makakaabot ako dito sa Malacañang at makakamayan ang Presidente.”

Kamakailan lang, napag-alaman kong si Rustie ay kumukuha ng kursong business management sa paaralang pina­ngarap niyang pasukan — ang Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan.

Mga Bida, patunay lang ito na walang imposible sa mundo basta’t determinadong magbago ang isang tao.

Kaya hindi tayo dapat maging mabilis sa paghusga. Hindi porke’t marumi, masama na. Hindi dahil malinis manamit, matino na.

May kasabihan nga, hindi lahat ng kumikinang ay ginto. Mayroon din namang nakakatanso.

 

First Published on Abante Online

2015 Budget to Undergo Tight Scrutiny – Sen. Bam

In the wake of controversies brought by the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), expect the 2015 national budget to undergo tight scrutiny in the Senate down to its last centavo.

“We must be vigilant and careful in scrutinizing next year’s budget to ensure every centavo of public’s money will go to its intended use and not in somebody’s pocket,” said Senator Bam Aquino, chairman of the Senate Committee of Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.

 “Controversies have taught us to put our budget under the microscope to avoid a repeat of issues such as PDAF and DAP. We also must be on guard against illegal insertions by crooked individuals who may try to pull a fast one,” the senator added.

Last year, Aquino actively participated in budget hearings and even presided over deliberations for agencies such as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Earlier, Malacañang said it would submit a proposed P2.606 trillion budget for 2015 to Congress. The amount was 15 percent higher than the 2014 national budget.

(PRIB Photo by Joseph Vidal)

Sen. Bam Supports Calls for Special Audit of DAP

 

Senator Bam Aquino has supported calls on the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct a special audit on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to, once and for all, remove doubts and other controversies hounding it.

“A special audit is needed so that doubts regarding DAP’s use will be put to rest,” said Aquino during the hearing of the Senate finance committee on DAP.

Through a special audit, Aquino said it would be determined if funds really went to legitimate projects or if somebody benefitted illegally from it.

“If somebody irregularly gained from it, then he or she should be prosecuted,” Aquino emphasized.

Aquino also stressed that DAP should not be associated with the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was scrapped after the P10-billion scam was uncovered last year.

“The DAP helped boost the economy through projects that benefited the Filipino people while P10 billion from PDAF went to ghost non-government organizations and pockets of several politicians,” Aquino stressed.

The senator also lauded the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) posting all documents related to DAP on the agency’s website for transparency and accountability.

“We invite everyone to take a look and scrutinize where the funds went,” Aquino said.

Meanwhile, Aquino expressed support behind the government’s move to file a motion for reconsideration on the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter.

“I hope the SC will weigh the President’s position on the DAP’s constitutionality and act favorably on the matter,” the senator said.

Statement on Atty. Baligod’s statement that JLN pocketed P15B


The P2 billion that Janet Lim Napoles wants to return is nothing compared to what she earned from her illegal transactions with the government.

This is more than the P10 billion that was stolen from the public due to the PDAF scam. The amount doesn’t include properties purchased by Napoles using the public coffers.

We call on the government to hasten the trial of Napoles so that we can pinpoint and recover the money she pocketed from the government, up to the last centavo.

 

Abolish PDAF already — Sen. Bam

Senator Bam Aquino urges fellow lawmakers to already move for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), citing other senators who have officially supported the move

For his part, Sen. Aquino suspended his office’s use of their PDAF allocation as early as August 17, 2013 and publicly called for its abolition on August 23, 2013

Later, Sen. Aquino wrote Senate President Franklin Drilon on September 4, 2013, relaying his decision to forego the PDAF of his office for 2013

“This is to respectfully inform you that our office shall not endorse/identify any projects for funding under the PDAF as provided under the General Appropriations Act of 2013,” Aquino said in his letter to Drilon.

Aquino also requested Drilon to declare his allocation of P100 million be declared as savings and reverted to the National Treasury.

In addition, Aquino also wrote Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, to inform him of his decision to forego his PDAF for 2014.

In his letter to Sen. Escudero dated November 5, 2013 Sen. Aquino wrote to “relinquish and waive the allocated Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), without any reservations.”

“In foregoing my PDAF allocation from the proposed Php 2.268-trillion 2014 National Budget, the amount of Two Hundred Million Pesos (Php 200,000,000.00) shall therefore be deducted from item XLV Section 1 of the proposed National Expenditure Program for 2014. The said amount shall likewise be deducted from the total budget reflected in the proposed 2014 General Appropriations bill,” the letter states.

Sen. Bam Supports Resolution to Use PDAF for Relief, Rehab Efforts

Senator Bam Aquino expressed support behind a Senate resolution urging Malacañang to declare unused Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for 2013 as savings and to use it for relief and rehabilitation of areas devastated by several calamities.

The Senate on Tuesday passed Resolution No. 14, formally abandoning their PDAF for 2013, thereby creating savings which the government can use as calamity fund.

Aquino, one of the first to suspend the use of the PDAF of his office, said that the unused PDAF could augment the government’s depleting calamity fund, which now stands at P1.37 billion.

“Right now, the government needs all the help it can get. This resolution is the Senate’s way of doing its share to help ease the public’s burden,” Aquino added.

“With the government already neck-deep in problems regarding calamities, the remaining unused PDAF, which amounts to more or less P3.18 billion, could go a long way to help the victims of the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu and recent typhoons Labuyo and Santi,” Sen. Aquino said.

Aquino earlier had called for the creation of a P15-billion calamity fund to support rehabilitation of areas that were heavily damaged by the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that hit Central Visayas on October 15. Later, Malacanang announced that it would earmark P20 billion for rehabilitation.

“I laud Malacanang’s efforts to set aside the necessary funds for the rehabilitation and repair of the affected areas. In any case, calamity funds are a better place for the people’s money than the PDAF,” Sen. Aquino stressed.

Aside from the recent earthquake, several areas in the country had been devastated by typhoons “Labuyo” and “Santi” in recent weeks, while Zamboanga City was left in tatters after an assault by a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Bam Expects Napoles to Tell All

Sen. Bam Aquino is confident that Janet Lim Napoles, who has been implicated in the P10 billion “pork barrel scam”, will tell all following her surrender to President Benigno Aquino III late Wednesday night.

“Now that Napoles has surrendered, she can reveal who else is involved while the DOJ and the Ombudsman are reviewing the evidence in order to determine who should be charged,” Sen. Aquino said in Filipino during a live television interview.

“Kapag kumanta na si Napoles (Once Napoles tells all), the investigation of the DOJ and Ombudsman will reveal more evidence,” the senator added. This, Aquino believes, will make it easier for the case to be resolved.

Meanwhile, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, headed by Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, is conducting its own investigation and intends to summon Napoles and the other whistleblowers of the case.

“It’s incumbent upon the officials na hulihin talaga kung sino ang mga sangkot sa krimeng ito (to punish all those who are accountable for these crimes),” Aquino asserted “The government must do everything that it can to prosecute all those responsible for this, to reform a system that has long been corrupted.”

The senator added that all 24 senators have already agreed to abolish the PDAF, following public clamor for the same.

Bam Lauds PNoy Call to Abolish Pork

 

Senator Bam Aquino lauds President Benigno Aquino III’s statement calling for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), otherwise known as the “pork barrel,” saying this is a necessary first-step to urgent reforms.

“Tayo po ay natutuwa dahil pinakinggan ni PNoy ang hiling ng taumbayan. Panahon na talaga upang buwagin ‘yang PDAF.”

Earlier on Friday, Sen. Aquino called for the abolition of the PDAF and proposed in its stead a “People’s Fund.”

The People’s Fund is meant to “give the Filipino people greater control over where and how public funds are spent.”

“We’ve already taken a lot of steps toward good governance, but now it’s time to overhaul system that’s been corrupted,” the younger Aquino says. “Abolishing the PDAF and instituting reforms is yet another step in transforming governance and keeping the path to tuwid na daan. There’s no better time for it than now.”
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