Posted by Zhern
Since the emergence of Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino as presidential front runner, his public pronouncements on various issues have been widely quoted in the media and in private conversations that reflect to some extent how he intends to restructure, beneficially, certain functions of government.
Just the other day, for instance, he expressed confidence that the presidency has enough powers, and that the authority of the "executive branch could not be clipped by another branch of government because all three are co-equal."
Subject of Aquino's rebuff was certain provisions of the General Appropriation Act of 2010 that prohibit the impounding of appropriations and "prevent the President from blocking pork barrel allocations" without the approval of both Houses of Congress.
Even so, the incoming President reminded his critics of what is called "Executive discretion," sometimes also known as the "court of executive conscience," if you didn't know.
"The obligation of the President," Senator Aquino said, the moment he assumes the presidency, "is to indentify the funds earmarked for particular district and that it will go there, directly."
Interestingly, Aquino was the first member of the Senate who filed the bill with the same intent which was incorporated in the General Appropriation Act.
What prompted Noynoy Aquino to espouse such provision was the refusal of the President to release funds appropriated by Congress and instead misuse and abuse them to the prejudice of the localities and the people for whom the funds are intended by law.
As is already known, Members of the House of Representatives are allotted some P70 million a year for projects of their choice in their respective districts. That is what is called the pork barrel.
What is generally known is that in reality pork barrel are funds under the control of the President that are released to favored House members.
And it is this, for one, that the incoming Aquino administration sees where possible restructuring in the allocation of government funds and functions may need drastic changes.
The pork barrel issue, as always in almost every administration, saps the authority of political order, so to speak, with opposition House leaders often isolated in the process.
Maybe - just maybe - this is one of the serious failures of politics, and Noynoy sees it as something that needed to be changed. A lot of others which are of greater importance to the country and people could follow. Now, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is just waiting for his right to govern.
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Plan gives more funds for fighting meth, gangs.(Legislature)(Accusations of pork-barrel tactics led to the addition of $1 million to the proposal): An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Pork barrels and principles: The politics of the presidential veto
