! One of the recent scandals that rocked our nat ion is the Pr ior i ty Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or more commonly known as the Pork Barrel Scandal. This case is so scandalous, not only because it involves billions of pesos, but for the first time, senators and congressmen were directly linked to the scam. Since the issue came out about 3 months ago, there has been persistent calls to scrap the pork barrel of the senators and congressmen. The Million People March held last August 26, 2013 was the first in the series of protest calling for the abolition of the pork barrel. Will President Aquino give in to their requests?

! Why is it called pork barrel? The term pork barrel originated from America. Before the civil war, there was a practice of distributing salted pork to slaves from huge barrels. By the 1870s, the term pork barrel was meant to pertain to American congressmen dipping into the “pork barrel” to obtain funds to finance their projects in their own districts. In the Philippines, the term “pork barrel” is used to mean funds allocated to the congressmen and senators for them to decide where to spend without going through normal budgetary process. Each congressman receives 70 million pesos, while senators receive 200 million pesos. The pork barrel was previously abolished by President Ferdinand Marcos and was reinstated during President Corazon Aquino’s reign. Through the years, it has evolved into different names such as Countryside Development Fund, Congressional Initiative Fund and currently the Priority Development Assistance Fund. This fund has been a source of abuse and corruption by government officials.

Introduction

The Pork Barrel Scam - Mother Of All Scandals

Holdup ito... akin na ang pera

mo.

Hindi mo ba ako kilala? Congressman

ako.

Ganun ba? Edi akin na ang pera KO!

Everyday, whenever we buy things, eat in restaurants or even watch our favorite movies, we are required to pay taxes. One of the most famous quotations of Benjamin Franklin is: “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” The thing is, these taxes are r e v e n u e s o f t h e g o v e r n m e n t a n d a r e collected to finance various public services in the form of infrastructure, education, hea l th and soc ia l a id packages tha t a im to benefit the citizens of the country. In short, taxes are the lifeblood of a nation. However, it is common knowledge among us that there are some greedy and corrupt government officials, who take advantage of their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the public. Take the case of the recent incident of billions of peso scandal known as Priority Development Assistance Scam (PDAF scam), or more popularly known as the "Pork Barrel Scam". It is an issue that has been hogging the headlines whether in print media or television for the past two to three months. What makes this case so sensational is because it involved several government officials such as congressmen and senators, government agencies and private individuals led by the alleged primary suspect Janet Lim-Napoles.

How will the Pork Barrel Scam affect the Philippine Economy? The Pork Barrel Scam is a form of corruption in the government and it affects the way the government spends money. Money intended to be spent for the general welfare of the public l ike mil itary, education, medicine, infrastructures etc.

are not properly spent because corrupt officials will likely spend money on things that will benefit their pockets. This way, it is the Filipino people who suffer because taxes collected are not spent for them. Since the scam broke out, businessmen

around the world have been keeping an eye on this case. This issue will definitely have an impact on investor’s confidence. Investors would normally be suspicious with the companies of a nation t h a t a r e k n o w n f o r corruption and will steer a w a y f r o m d o i n g business with them. They feel they will have a much harder time in

doing business in a country wherein bribes or favors are required. This will not only drive away potential investors, but existing investors might ultimately pack up and leave the Philippines. If this happens, many Filipinos will lose their jobs and their families will suffer. Increase in unemployment will mean less capacity to spend money and this will affect the economic development of our country.

In light of this development, the Catholic Church, the Makati Business Club, party list groups and different sectors of the society have expressed huge uproar over the alleged misuse of funds. This had led to calls for the scrapping of the pork barrel in the hope of finally ending the abuses of those people concerned. Massive protests and rallies have been undertaken to add pressure to our government to reconsider their stand. This is a good sign that the Filipino people have finally become fully conscious of what is happening in our country and want changes to be implemented immediately.

Economy

The Pork Barrel Scam Can Affect Our Economic Development Reiner See

F a c t : Corruption in the Philippines is one of the highest in East A s i a . T h e recen t Po rk

Barrel Scam is one of the worst forms of corruption since this involves many politicians and government officials. And the amount involved are billions of Pesos supposedly intended for our poor countrymen like farmers and calamity victims but only ended up in the pockets of the greedy politicians and unscrupulous people. This resulted to the whole nation’s indignations. There’s a negative sentiment among the people because they feel that the taxes they pay are being wasted instead of using it in our nation building

Also, one of the bad aspects of this “Pork Barrel” is that it is being used for political agenda. It leads to political abuse. There are cases of biases in releasing of funds to more favored political allies. The administration allies can also have more funds as compared to the opposition. That’s why politicians are pressured to submit to the administration’s wishes just like what happened to the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona and the passing of the RH bill law. Using political blackmail to advance administration policies will have a negative effect on the check and balance in our political system. There is also political tension now because most of those accused are from the opposition. The opposition is complaining that they are being singled out. To counter this, the opposition is now retaliating by accusing the president himself of illegally using funds like the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

This political bickering is not good for our nation. Instead of focusing on more important issues, politicians are focusing on their own personal agenda rather than rendering service to the people. They should show political maturity rather than continue childish bickering and plotting against each other as this can hinder the growth and unity of our nation.

I think this is a lesson to us young people that we should start voting for more compe ten t , qua l i f i ed and hones t politicians. We can have a great nation if we have great politician that will serve the interests of the people. We can look at great American politicians like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. These people are good examples of great politicians that put the interest of the nations before their own. That is why America became a great nation, as people supported them in return. Sadly, in our own nation, politicians serve their own interest. The government should also be more transparent in every way like having a website for its projects. We can help in our own way by monitoring government projects and identifying anomalies and help in reporting it to the authorities. Those involved in corruption should be put to justice. In other countries, guilty or convicted politicians will be imprisoned for the crime committed against the people. If this can happen in the Philippines, we would have less corruption.

As the common people, we should be pro-active in helping out for nation building. We could air our opinions, disappointment and concerns towards the government. We could also join or help organize a peaceful protest over this scam to show that the youth has a greater role. This can help develop our nation.

Politics

The Pork Barrel Is Being Used For Political Agenda Timothy Uy

! When the pork barrel was originally used in 2003 it was intended for the politicians to spend an appropriate amount of money to win votes. While many politicians found this useful, many others also found this a way to steal money for their personal needs. This greatly affects the society as the fund from the taxes of people is stolen by the corrupt officials and used for their personal needs instead of using it to help improve our country.

! One of the many effects this scam brings is an increasing poverty, poverty was always a problem in the past and even now. This scam only worsens the condition of our society as the money of the people is being syphoned by these unfit and corrupt officials. Another effect is the hinderance of development of our country. This is due to the stealing of funds that are supposed to be used by the government to help improve our country and not for their personal needs. The last effect is that it is causing uproar amongst the people, thus causing revolts, rallies and protests. This is seen through the prayer rallies in Ortigas and Makati as way of showing ! they want this corruption to stop. As you can see these many effect have catastrofic consequences if not solved now as the increasing poverty will gradually make people’s lives harder and

the development of our country will be hindered while those corrupt few are given more wealth. These are only a few of the many negative effects on our society, as the pork barrel may continue to bring many more if it is not stopped. If not stopped these many effects may cause our nation to fall.! This may cause the people to be more careful now as they now know what happens when the unfit and corrupt are given power. If we picked officials who weren’t corrupt and thought of the welfare of this country like they are supposed to instead of their selfish desires then maybe, scams like this will not happen and our country will continue to develop and we may even become a great nation. But if these problems continue then we may be facing a problem we will not be able to solve

! As a regular citizen I do not yet see the other effects asides from increasing p o v e r t y a n d t h e h i n d e r a n c e o f development of our country. But I believe that if we do not think of a solution to this problem soon we may have more and more problems over time.

! As you can see even from just something as small as the corruption of a few government officials results into many problems that affect our entire country. This is because of the officials who think of themselves instead of the welfare of the entire country, which results into them not thinking yet about the problems it brings until these can no longer be solved.

Society

Pork Barrel Increases Poverty Enzo Lam & Thise Chua

The pork barrel scam has started ever since 2003, at least 10 years has the corruption of the government been present in the Philippines and who knows how long it had already started before. It has become sort of a cul ture for the government to have this political corruption that has been growing because of the greed for power and wealth and even pride. This has affected many things such as how political dynasties have this same corruption. Not only has this issue sparked uproars within the people but it has also shed light as to why for so many years the Philippines has been left undeveloped and filled with poverty. There have already been cases o f co r rup t ion in the government like with the impeachment of Joseph Estrada also knows as "Erap" and also former chief justice Corona. Most of the political system if not all has been plagued by this epidemic of corruption and it has spread to the people in terms of the suffering they have experienced especially the poor people. This culture that the government has is truly a hindrance to the development to the country and most would agree to that.

T h e c u l t u r e o f Philippine politics would be seen as corrupt all over seeing as over 3/4 of the government is part of this pork barrel scandal. This scandal has shown the political culture and not only does this limit to the country and its people but rather how other countries see the Philippines. What would be t h e t h e v i e w o f o t h e r countries on the Philippines now that they have seen that a l m o s t t h e w h o l e government, the majority of

them being part of this issue? It is shameful, yes that the government is seen as this body that is unjust and will do just about anything to keep their wealth and power. More of the concern however must be put to how this culture can be changed and seeing as how efforts of revealing many of the politicians names already and gathering the whistleblowers and other evidence that will wipe the government clean of this corruption. It is not an easy task to gather the evidence to completely accuse all politicians part of the pork barrel considering officials will do anything to keep their power and reputation. Even as these politicians are at the brink of losing their power, more do the people see the culture of corruption that is dominant in the government and see it also as something that must be wiped of the government else the country will still be in this state of poverty for many years to come.

Culture

The Culture Of Corruption Is Seen As Dominant in the Government Rainier Lee

In light of the pork barrel scam, it is about time that the Filipino people stand united once and for all in their fight against corruption. The recent Million March held in Luneta, which attracted almost 200, 000 people, is a good sign that the Filipinos are so tired of corruption and they want change, similar to the EDSA Revolution in 1986. Follow-up rallies and protests have also been held to express their craving for the abolishment of the pork barrel. These expressions of their desires should not stop until the government accedes to their request. Nevertheless, these rallies should be peaceful, so as not to disrupt the everyday lives of the people. In addition to this, this is a wake up call to all Filipinos that they should vote wisely in the next elections. This means that they should choose government officials, who possess integrity and honesty and not because they are popular. Corrupt officials should never be put into office in the first place and they should not be voted for. However, despite this scandal, Filipinos should still continue to pay taxes honestly. The incident that happened does not give the Filipinos the right to avoid paying taxes and call for tax holidays until the pork barrel is abolished. This is because taxes are an essential to for the survival of the country as it is the source of revenues of the government, which they use to finance public services. We should remember that we, Filipinos, play an important role in the country.

On the part of the government most especially President Aquino, it is about time that he listens to the voice of the people and not on politicians who are only after their own selfish intentions. The President should work for the scrapping of the pork barrel because it is what the people want. Money allotted for pork barrels can instead be used for building more schools, hospitals. new roads and bridges, housing for the poor, buying equipments for better forecasting of weather and for flood control. Government employees should be paid well to prevent them from accepting bribes. President Aquino should be reminded that he was elected as the President of our nation to serve the people well and not

f o r a s e l e c t e d f e w p o l i t i c i a n s . H e overwhelmingly won during the 2010 elections which means that the Filipino people’s trust and expectations in his administration are very high. He pledge for honesty and integrity and even said that the Filipinos are his “boss” and he cannot ignore their orders. Indeed, the Philippines is a democratic country and the people should never be dictated. Philippine elections more often than not are manipulated. Therefore, the President should ensure that elections are fair and honest so that the rightful officials are elected. Furthermore, appointed members of the cabinet should be deserving

and not because they are his friends or allies. He should not hesitate to replace officials who are unworthy no matter who they are. Public officials should be role models and maintain good records while serving people. If this happens, there is a good chance that our country will become united and great.

As a Grade 9 student of Xavier School, it should not bean excuse that I am too young to contribute something worthwhile to our nation building. Anybody can contribute because age does not matter. In fact, the youth are the future of our country. It is important to be aware of the events that are happening around us. For example, the pork barrel scam, even though I cannot join rallies and protests, I should encourage others who can join to voice out their feelings. In addition, I should remind my elders to pay honest taxes because taxes are an integral part of the success of the nation. I should make it a point to follow the rules and regulations and help in maintaining cleanliness in my community. Our country is often times hit by calamities like massive floods, I can also donate money and other material things to the less fortunate during these times. To my younger siblings, I should always be conscious of my actions and should try to be a role model by being always honest and showing love and care for others.

Action Plan by: Reiner See !

The current issue of the pork barrel has caused a very big conflict between the government and the people and it is truly a hindrance to the development of the country. The Filipino people are what choose today's leaders as there is elections and the winner of the elections are purely from the decision of the people. The people must know who they are actually voting for in the first place and see what that candidate has achieved or what characteristics they possess that will help the country. It starts with the people because the people are the ones who pick their leaders and this means that if the people don't really know who they're voting for then problems will arise because then only problems like the pork barrel will be present in the country and no progress whatsoever will be done to the country. People also need to think of what the government sees when they pass laws or implement various rules. The people can be observed to always do rallies just because a law for them seems unfit when they do not even think about the effects or the reasons as to why they were implemented in the first place and that is an important step for the people to do in order to understand the government more and think of other concerns. The people need to make sure that they remember officials whoa re part of this pork barrel because many politicians are in fact part of the scandal and it would be vital to recognize and realize that some officials are really corrupt and would not fit to be in the government. The government on the other hand should think of the needs of the people and fix the growing poverty that the Philippines faces. It is time that the government should change because the majority are already found part of the pork barrel, which has been going on for almost ten years and this would not reflect well on the government especially since more and more officials are being filed with charges. These officials should using the funds given to them to build infrastructures and help relocate the poor people so that the country would have space to develop and further boost economy. The government is the core of the country and every law and how a country develops will be handled by the government but this pork barrel scandal is unnecessary and pointless as it does not help anyone because the only thing that is happening to the country is no development, more rallies by the people and losing trust in the government and also a bad image to other countries as to how the Philippines is being run seeing as how it has been influenced by the Americans. The

government is a key aspect in building a nation as they answer to the needs of the people and that is what the government needs to do. For example the poor need a sustainable job that will get them through and also an adequate home so that their families can settle. This will lead to cleaner environments and no problems between land owners and the squatters. The government can provide basic education also to those who cannot afford school so that many people can still get jobs that do not require much skill level. Since there will be more lands opening up, various infrastructures can be built and more jobs can be opened. Slowly but surely the nation will build to be bigger and have more potential to be chosen for foreign investors thus boosting the

economy. As a student, I am aware of this situation that is happening and it does not improve the country for obvious reasons and the corruption of the government has indeed hit many people hard considering funds that have to be used for the improvement of the country are being used for their own selfish uses. Even as a student, I am an important part of building a nation because I am learning about these situations and knowing that these crisis exist quite abundantly in the country and having great knowledge of it improves my understanding thus I know how to react to situations like these. In this part of my life where I am continually learning, I can do little things such as supporting many anti-graft and corruption rallies against the government because I am after all a citizen of the Philippines. Knowing what is just and unjust by learning current events such as the pork barrel help me learn about the government and how they act and hopefully it will lead to others also knowing about the current issues which will build a unified people even students.

Action Plan by: Rainier Lee

A s a n a t i o n w e a r e constantly trying to further develop our country to match the standards of others. While there are people who see a future where their nation, this country is improved and better, some people only see of a future where they are in, where they a re happy and have every th ing they could want. This r e s u l t s i n t o corruption which destroys the nation and creates problems for its people. Nation building would also be pointless without a mutual agreement between the government and the people, but if the government and the people work together and think of the welfare of the entire country we maybe able to still create a successful nation.

As a Filipino we constantly see our government trying to develop our country and improve the lives of people. Sometimes we see the government trying to help improve our country there are also some officials who only think of themselves, an example is the current pork barrel scam where government officials steal money from the government to fund their personal needs. The people always think they have no power in what happens, but if they carefully pick their officials then problems like this could be prevented and we could see our country as a better nation without corruption. Another solution is to wait for the government to solve these problems instead of revolting and protesting against them, because while you are getting your message sent, you are also creat ing more problems for the government thus preventing them from fixing these.

Our government officials today face many problems involving graft and corruption, some officials even abuse their power in order to gain wealth, one example of such is the current pork barrel scam some officials steal money for their personal purposes. To prevent this the government officials must remember the welfare of the entire country instead of just

themselves, as these problems are only a result of the greed of a few people. They may also implement check and balance to make sure that no government officials abuses their power and to discourage anyone from trying. These are only ways of preventing it from happening again. To solve the problems it already has caused we can remove the corrupt officials from their position and return the money they stole back to the government so that we may still be able to further develop the country and fix all the problems it brought with it.

As a student, there is only very little things I can do about what is happening now. One is learning how to select officials so that in the future problems like this maybe prevented and our country may be further improved. Another is to inform others about the possible problems unfit officials will bring so that we may be able to prevent and stop these from happening. As of now you may think that there is nothing you can do, but by learning about these problems and learning how they may be able to be prevented and stopped, you can prevent this from happening again in the future and help our country. In my opinion if everyone thought of others instead of just themselves then problems like this will not happen and we would be able to better our nation instead of rebuilding it.

Action Plan by: Enzo Lam

There is a saying, “The youth is the future of the country”. Like it or not, this statement is true. It is important that the youth has a greater role in nation building. We should not be complacent. We should know what is happening around us and what we can do to contribute. A recent corruption scandal is the “Pork Barrel Scam”. What struck me is that even famous politicians were involved in this scam. This scam was made by abusing the PDAF fund, a fund that was intended for a small scale community project for the needs of the people. The purpose of this fund is actually good, but it is easily abused. This pork barrel system was introduced to us by the Americans during the American Colonial Period, as it is also existing in other countries that were able to manage the fund well. In contrast here, there is a connivance between the legislators, government officials of a certain agency, like Dep. Of Agricluture, and the NGOs, like the JLN corporation to embezzle the fund.

The pork barrel scam is not doing any good to our country/society. It encourages a culture of corruption because lots of prominent politicians are involved, even those funds which were intended for the calamity victims were not spared from corruption. That’s why there are lots of protests ongoing, so that people could voice out their emotions. At present, people suffer from low confidence and losing faith for our political leaders. People will also have the mentality that corruption is just a normal thing in our country. The worst part is that those involved can just get away with it. Politicians are so insensitive, they should have moral ascendancy. The people should teach them the word “Delicadesa”. Lots of people now want to abolish the Pork Barrel System but in my opinion, I think PDAF still has its uses and benefits despite it being easily abused. I think that we could still improve it to make it work. We could try to learn from other countries on how they manage and safeguard

the people’s fund. One way is to have a Citizen’s watchdog that can oversee that the program is properly implemented.

This political and corruption scandal is bad for the image of our country, even affecting our image abroad. It is showing that the corruption of our country is at its worse. It discourages foreign investors to come to our country that we need so badly to create jobs and improve the economic conditions of our country. The government should have political solutions to this issue. They should show that the president is still in his course of “Daang Matuwid”. They should reassure the foreigners that our country is worth investing in. Economic stability can follow if there is political stability. Also, In more advanced nations, they have a good check and balance system.

Action Plan by: Timothy Uy

T h e people could improve the n a t i o n b y being smart in choosing t h e r e leaders in t h e government. I say t h i s b e c a u s e . Some not all chose there leaders that are famous a n d r i c h rather than

those who are ready to help and serve the community. The people should be aware with who they pick as a leader so that things like the pork barrel don't happen again to the country. This will also be useful so that it will be very easy for us the people to communicate with the government and be a more compact community so that we can work together to build and improve our society and country

The government can improve the nation by being less selfish and think about others before they do there actions of corruption. I say this because some or most they usually think of how rich and powerful they should be in life. This leads to them going up while the other people who are poor keep going down because of the poverty that the government causes to the society. We all know that Philippines is not a very rich country we are not like China and America. In other countries like America there government is the one letting the students study they pay for all your fees and this is already a good kind of school. There grade school classes quality is in the middle of private schools and public schools of the Philippines. This only happened because the government of America mostly all about helping people. This can also happen in this country but the government should have the right kind of mindset when they enter politics. They should not enter politics because of there big paychecks and the power that they have. They should enter politics with the mind set that they entered this job because this is the best way that they can contribute to a better country and a better society.

As me as a student I think i should study harder and do my part in society now

because as a student there is not much you can do but I think if we study hard and do our best to help people in a smaller scale this is already enough to help the society. I say we can work on our studies because the time will come that we can help people in a much larger scale like entering politics to make a better society and not commit the same mistakes as our past. If us students study harder and do our best in our studies we could be more appreciative to what we have and give value to to those who need our help in our daily lives

Action Plan by: Thise Chua

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