President Aquino needs to abolish the pork barrel system, but if he is so desperate to keep his pork barrel, then at least he should push Congress to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill. Isn’t the main purpose of the proposed FOI law to ensure transparency in government transactions and prevent the misuse of public funds? Isn’t the proposed law intended to foster good governance? So whether President Aquino wants to keep his pork barrel or not, isn’t it quite obvious how important and necessary an FOI law is?
And now with billions of pesos more to be added to the President’s pork barrel, supposedly to fund government projects, the more an FOI law has become essential.
So if the President won’t abolish his pork barrel, at least he should work for the enactment of an FOI law to protect government from scams and pork barrel misuse. Unless, of course, he wants to misuse funds without the Filipino people knowing.
—CHELSEA ALONZO,
chelonzoid@yahoo.com