Social Good Summit 2013 gets underway in Manila today, Sept. 21, and in the next few hours and days in over 120 other cities across the globe. The objective is fairly simple but important: Find new, innovative ways of using social media and technology for social good and social change.
In the Philippines, social media is now playing a key role in exposing and fighting the man-made disaster called the PDAF scam. PDAF is the term used to prettify the pork barrel system, the whimsical and discretionary way the President and Members of Congresss would split big chunks of the national budget among themselves and how to spend it capriciously. This system involves huge amounts of meaningful data called public funds, running into more than a trillion pesos.
Each congressman gets P70-million, each senator P200-million.
President Aquino has become the número uno defender of the pork barrel system and has refused to abandon it. No surprise there because he has been found to hold and control the single biggest share in the pork barrel system amounting to more than one trillion pesos. PNoy’s pork barrel is hidden under so many names and eludes public accountability and transparency.
Abusers of the pork barrel system allegedly used fake non-government organizations as conduits for their large-scale plunder. Some senators allegedly collected their share of the loot personally.
The numbers involved have boggled the mind of Filipinos.
And the numbers are still merely partial and does not cover so far the PDAF misuse from 2010 onwards, or under the administration of President Aquino.
Revolted by the massive plunder and theft of public funds, citizens have started moving in big numbers. The first shot came with the #MillionPeopleMarch of Aug. 26 which sent shock waves through the Aquino administration. The fight continued and continues: EDSA Tayo on Sept. 11, #ForwardMarch on Sept. 13 and #NeverPorkget today, Sept. 21.
More data, more action needed
Social media and technology have many roles to play in the coming weeks and months as Filipinos campaign to abolish the pork barrel system and it involves how we gather, process, interpret and act on data.
1. Demand that the COA conduct and release a *full* audit of PDAF use from 2007-2010 and from 2010-2012.
2. Demand that each congressman and senator sign a waiver of bank secrecy.
3. Demand that President Aquino come out clean on the true amount of all discretionary funds he asked for and were approved by Congress in 2011, 2012 and 2013. That he should let the COA make a full audit, and to authorize full disclosure of the audit results.
4. Come together and assemble a super committee of public finance experts and sectoral representatives to come up with alternative ways to appropriate the budget, and how to make better use of the funds now allotted for the pork barrel system.
There is also the need for citizens to work together to press for the passage of the Freedom of Information Law. This will help unlock important data and information, on demand and by mandate of the law itself.
Connections and context
Pro-PNoy trolls have been trying to downplay the abolish-pork movement as nothing more than expressions of outrage, and they are trying vainly to shield their idol from public anger.
PDAF and the pork barrel are just two of the most brazen, most shameless ways used by government officials to commit plunder of public funds. These are now the most obvious manifestations of bureaucrat capitalism, the systemic plague where government officials view state power as a license for enriching themselves.
The plunder of PDAF funds also appear to be well-planned and executed and reveal patterns. It cannot be just pure evil. It is a well-orchestrated, well-planned and systematic operation.
The PDAF mess and the President’s defense of the pork barrel reveal the connections and context of corruption in government. Wittingly or unwittingly, President Aquino has agreed that corruption is needed to run his government and push his agenda by insisting he cannot abolish it. His presidency himself is embroiled in it by getting the lion share of discretionary spending.
A pork-less alternative
The Philippines has, since 2006, been dubbed as the world’s worst climate change victim. It remains true to this day. Just imagine how much improvements could have been made in the last six years had the Arroyo and Aquino governments spent adequately on disaster risk reduction and mitigation. We could have improved and modernized flood control for Metro Manila and upgraded the equipment and facilities of weather bureau PAGASA.
The huge amount of public funds pilfered by corrupt government officials through pork barrel for the past 10 years could have also gone to:
Filling up the gaps and shortages in classrooms, teachers and books for public elementary and high school students
Raising the budget for state colleges and universities and stopping tuition fee increases for state scholars
Providing low-cost mass housing for the urban poor
Providing adequate financial, consular and legal assistance for overseas Filipinos
Modernizing the mass transportation system in Metro Manila and other urban centers, upgrading PNR, MRT, LRT, airports and sea ports
Laying down the groundwork for a national internet broadband network for the Philippines
These “could haves” are a pain to write and read. But they’re instructive too. For when we citizens succeed in abolishing pork, we would not have a shortage of ideas of how to properly allocate public funds.
Forward
Right now, the imperative for citizens and netizens is not to give up and to carry on the fight against the pork barrel system.
Simple arithmetic, good manners and history teach us that we have much to gain if and when we win. The big data that we and the Aquino government ought to see to abolish pork are millions going out to the streets, taking action and seizing back control of public funds and making government work for them and not a few.
Because pork ain’t good for the country, we must press on until we abolish it. This is the biggest social good battle for 2013 which we ought to join and win both online and offline.