PAHAYAG NG UPCSWCD: TANGGALIN ANG PORK BARREL NGAYON NA!

PAHAYAG NG UPCSWCD
22 Agosto 2013

TANGGALIN ANG PORK BARREL NGAYON NA!
PONDOHAN ANG MGA BATAYANG SERBISYONG PANLIPUNAN!

Nakikiisa ang Kolehiyo ng Gawaing Panlipunan at Pagpapaunlad ng Pamayanan (CSWCD) ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP) sa mga miyembro ng faculty, staff, estudyante at alumni ng UP na mariing nagkokondena sa walang pakundangang paglulustay ng pera ng bayan sa mga bogus na NGO at proyekto gaya ng ipinahihiwatig ng tinatawag na P10-bilyong Napoles scam. Bilyun-bilyong piso ang inilalaan sa Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) ng mga senador at congressmen ngunit walang linaw kung paano ito nagagasta kayat nagiging oportunidad para sa walang habas na pandaraya at pandarambong.

Mayroon din ibang malalaking pondo na ang tawag ay lump sum appropriation ng mga ahensiya ng gobyerno, kasama na ang ehekutibo, na hindi alam kung ano at saan ang pupuntahan.

Ang ganitong sitwasyon ay tunay na nakakapanlumo, nakakaiyak at nakakagalit lalo na sa konteksto ng laganap na kagutuman at kasalatan ng mahihirap na Pilipino. Ngayon ay dagdag pang hagupit ang pananalanta ng mga bagyo at pagbaha.

Sa harap ng ganitong kalagayan ay malinaw ang tuwid na landas na dapat tahakin ng lahat ng mamamayang Pilipinong may malasakit sa Inang Bayan. Di dapat palampasin ang tahasang pagtalikod sa matitinding pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan at garapal na paglustay ng pondong dapat sila ang nakinabang.

Dapat imbestigahan at parusahan ang lahat ng maysala!
Dapat suportahan ang panukalang batas para sa pagtatanggal ng sistemang pork barrel! Isabay na rin dito ang pagtatanggal ng lump sum appropriation ng lahat ng ahensiya ng gobyerno!

Dapat gamitin ang pondong nakalaan sa pork barrel (P25.4 bilyon para sa taong 2014) at sa mga lump sum appropriation sa mga batayang serbisyong panlipunan para sa kalusugan, edukasyon, pabahay, mass transport, imprastruktura sa kanayunan, at reporma sa lupa!

Lumahok tayo sa sama-samang pagkilos ng pamayanan ng UP at sa pamayanang binubuo ng lahat ng mga Pilipinong naghahangad ng isang malinis na pamahalaang nananagot sa lahat ng kanyang gawain at gastusin, at tumutugon sa mga pangangailangan at hinaing ng mga maralita at nasasantabi sa lipunan.

U.P. Diliman: Remembering 32 journalists killed in Maguindanao

By Chanda Shahani

Last August 23, 2013, Cyd Godinez and I went ot to the College of Mass Communication at U.P. Diliman to attend the commemoration of the November 23, 2009 massacre in Maguindanao where some 32 journalists died, out of a total of 58 victims.

On hand were the faculty and students of the College of Mass Communication, headed by CMC Dean Roland Tolentino. There were some talks, and then candles were lit to commemorate the victims. 

Coming before the August 26, 2013 million person march to Quirino Grandstand to protest the existence of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or pork barrel resulting in losses of at least PhP 10 billion to the Filipino people; Dean Tolentino and fellow CMC professor, Danilo Arao, collectively made the point that PDAF was an egregious instance of the misuse of government resources towards unethical ends. On the other hand, the machinery of the local government: local police, personnel, even a backhoe were used to massacre 32 journalists and other people. These assets employed were paid for with the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the local government units (LGUs).

In other words, even IRAs are subject to abuse, and even IRAs, PDAFs should be looked into and be subjected to oversight and inspection so that abuses of such horrendous proportions can never be repeated again.

In both instances - that of the PDAF and that of the Maguindanao massacre - presidential patronage allowed actors to act with impunity. In the case of the Ampatuans, who delivered valuable votes to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Maguindanao, and are still seen as political assets to the President benigno S. Aquino III, the trial seems to drag on with an ever elusive sense of justice for the families and friends of those who died in Maguindanao. 

Dean Tolentino called for the abolition of the Presidential and Congressional pork barrel.He urged those who attended the commemoration of the murder of 58 people, to attend the million person march towards Quirino Grandstand and other points of Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines to march with the PDAF in mind, and the Maguindanao massacre in mind.

"Makibaka tayo at huwag tayong matakot," Dean Tolentino reminded his audience.

At issue regarding the IRAs, it turns out is that the IRAs reflect the same kind of greed for resources and power that are reflected in the presidential and congressional pork barrels, said Danilo Arao, a professor of journalism at the CMC.

Arao also urged journalism students to stick to the time honored University of the Philippines ideals of honor and excellence as part of their public service as working journalists; which included letting concealed information come out to be scrutinized by the public. 

He also said that other issues that need to be kept on the front burner through activism were:

• Justice for the Maguindanao massacre victims and other victims of extra judicial killings.
• The retention of freedom of speech.
• Stop the killing of journalists

Arao said that the high survey satisfaction ratings of President Benigno S. Aquino III were not an excuse to collectively make the public's heads spin with distorted information related to PDAF ore pork barrel, which he said might simply be given a new name.

UP CMC calls for abolition of pork barrel, investigation of corruption, arrest of plunderers

N.B. – This is the official statement of the UP College of Mass Communication on the pork barrel issue, signed by 29 faculty members and 14 staff led by Dean Roland Tolentino and former deans Luis Teodoro and Georgina Encanto.

Statement of the University of the Philippines
College of Mass Communication
August 23, 2013

THE FACULTY, students and staff of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) will join the people’s assembly and march at the Luneta on Monday, August 26 to express our collective outrage. We demand the abolition of the pork barrel system; the immediate arrest of, and the filing of appropriate charges of plunder and other high crimes against those involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam from both the private and public sector; and a thorough and non-partisan investigation into the entire system of which the scam is only a small part of the estimated P250 billion lost to corruption in the public sector.

Together with the rest of the Filipino people, UP and its constituents, as well as the other state universities and colleges, are among the victims of the corruption that has metastasized throughout officialdom as well as the private sector. While our budgets are being reduced to the detriment of our mandates to train those among our young men and women with the most potential to serve this country and its people, billions are funnelled annually into the pockets of scoundrels and thieves both in and out of government so they may indulge their greed for fleets of luxury cars, palatial homes, and shopping binges abroad.

This is a horrendous crime for which those guilty of it should be penalized. President Benigno Aquino III should first of all forthwith cause the withdrawal from the 2014 General Appropriations Act of the P27 billion in pork barrel funds for Congress, selected agencies, and his own office the Department of Budget and Management has appropriated. He should immediately organize an investigative body credible enough to look into the extent to which not only pork barrel but also other funds have been and are being misused, while ordering the Department of Justice to file the appropriate charges of plunder against those involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

President Aquino’s “bosses” have spoken. His defense of the pork barrel and his insistence on keeping the system intact despite widespread outrage and opposition of the Filipino people are unacceptable. These are completely at odds with the people’s sentiments and the objective interest in seeing to it that taxes are well-spent for the people’s own benefit rather than that of a handful of rapacious individuals whose greed knows no limit.

COLLEGE OFFICIALS
Dr. Roland B. Tolentino, Dean
Prof. Danilo A. Arao, Associate Dean
Prof. Randy Jay C. Solis, College Secretary

Dr. Georgina R. Encanto, Former Dean
Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, Former Dean

Prof. Jane O. Vinculado, Chair, Broadcast Communication Department
Prof. Lucia P. Tangi, Officer-in-Charge, Journalism Department
Prof. Patrick F. Campos, Director of Office of Extension and External Relations

FACULTY
Broadcast Communication Department
Dr. Elizabeth L. Enriquez
Dr. Perlita G. Manalili
Prof. Rosa Maria T. Feliciano
Prof. Victor C. Avecilla
Prof. Josefina C. Santos, DZUP Radio Station Manager
Prof. Fernando A. Austria, Jr.
Ms. Ma. Ivy A. Claudio

Communication Research Department
Prof. Jacques Rusanna Yves DM. Gimeno

Journalism Department
Prof. Evelyn Katigbak
Prof. Ma. Diosa Labiste
Ms. Teresa Congjuico

UP Film Institute
Prof. Shirley P. Evidente, Faculty Coordinator for Academic Programs and Research, UPFI
Prof. Eduardo J. Lejano, Jr., Faculty Coordinator for Film, Theater and Extension Services
Prof. Jose C. Gutierrez III, College Webmaster
Mr. Roy C. Iglesias

LECTURERS
Broadcast Communication Department
Prof. Melba S. Estonilo
Prof. Marinela M. Aseron
Mr. Dexter Mantes

UP Film Institute
Maria Lourdes De Guzman
Carlo Gabriel Pangilinan
Bryan Quesada

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AND REPS
Gina Villegas
Marianita P. Cinco
Rosalita S. Burlat
Armando H. Hirao
Nemesio B. Faulan
Clarissa S. Concepcion
Raquelita Bacarra
Jacqueline Manalo
Teresita Santos
Irene Sia
Hermana Dela Paz
Ma. Christine Hernandez
Jam Tolentino
Janette Pamaylaon

CMC Student Council (composed of 13 elected student leaders)