Posted by ManilaB
After losing their wang-wang and getting stuck in traffic like the rest of the sweating, toiling hoi polloi, some politicians are now stewing over the prospect of losing yet another long-standing perk: claiming as their own projects financed by taxpayers.
Several members of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives reportedly told new Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson over lunch last Monday that they would defy President Aquino’s ban on putting their images and names on billboards and other markers for state-funded projects. The President has ordered department heads to stop putting his image and name on government projects and items procured using public funds. He ordered Singson’s department to include other public officials in the ban.
In opposing the ban, the lawmakers said taking credit for their pet projects was their way of promoting transparency in the use of their pork barrel. In the same breath, they opposed the inclusion in the project markers of the name of the contractor plus the project cost, saying this could make the contractors targets of communist rebels for “revolutionary tax” extortion. At least give the lawmakers credit for creativity in their arguments.
There are other ways by which lawmakers can announce how they are addressing the concerns of their constituents. Simply submitting regularly a detailed report of their utilization of the congressional pork barrel, including the contractors involved and items procured, and opening it to public scrutiny will be appreciated especially by taxpayers. But this exercise in transparency is something lawmakers have long resisted, thereby allowing even fly-by-night contractors to undertake projects or supply goods and services to the government. When the products or services rendered turn out to be substandard, taxpayers who bankrolled the items are left holding the bag, unable to hold anyone accountable.
If politicians simply want to remind their constituents that they are doing their job, they can still cut the ribbon during groundbreaking ceremonies or when their pet projects are completed, and they can still personally lead the distribution of goods to the needy when the project is upon their initiative. But credit for state-funded projects should go to taxpayers, not politicians. President Aquino cannot shame the shameless in following his example, but he can hold public works and other executive officials accountable for seeing to it that his directive is carried out.
