The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) supports the Filipino people’s demand for the full revelation of the complete list of government officials and personages who have transacted over the past years with Janet Lim-Napoles in the scam to pocket hundreds of millions of pesos under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
At the same time, the CPP reiterates the people’s demand for the abolition of the entire pork barrel system, especially the presidential pork barrel—the P150 billion Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP)—that is being used by Aquino to perpetuate the corrupt system of cacique political patronage and ensure that members of congress and local government officials remain under his political sway.
Investigations since last year have pointed out to a large-scale scam involving scores of senators and congressmen who have released millions of pesos under their PDAF to Napoles’ fake non-government organizations with the promise of pocketing 40-60% of the funds. The Napoles scam has been going on for more than ten years and has involved people from both the political opposition and the ruling Aquino clique. It is estimated that the Napoles PDAF scam is just one of several big-scale scams involving the pork barrel.
The Aquino regime’s plan was to expose the Napoles scam in order to launch a political campaign against the three main oppositionists in the Philippine senate, including those believed to be challengers in the 2016 elections. In mid-2013, it came up with an audit report centering on the involvement of those senators in the Napoles scam. It would not take long, however, for the pork barrel issue to blow up in Aquino’s face and expose how Aquino himself has been using the PDAF, as well as the DAP, stoking large-scale mass protests last year.
Amid the public outcry, Napoles made arrangements with key government officials to be received inside Malacañang and “surrender” to Aquino himself, who later would accompany her to the main police headquarters and ensure arrangements for her detention inside a police camp in Laguna.
Despite overwhelming evidence, Napoles has maintained innocence and refused to divulge any information in public hearings conducted by the senate. On the other hand, the Aquino regime continues to provide her with special accommodations. Since March, she has been allowed to stay in the hospital, even long after undergoing a medical procedure, without legal protestation by government lawyers.
The said list of pork barrel officials was first drawn up by Napoles several weeks ago when Aquino’s officials, specifically the justice secretary, declared publicly that she is keen on getting Napoles as a state witness against the opposition senators who are the principal accused in the plunder cases being drawn up by the regime.
Napoles, however, subsequently came up with a list which revealed names including key officials of the Aquino regime, whom she claims are involved in the multibillion peso scam. It is apparent that Napoles’ objective is to use the list, which she has leaked to the media but which she has yet to sign or swear by, to strengthen her bargaining position in order to press for more concessions from the government in exchange for limiting her testimony against Aquino’s rivals.
Included in the Napoles list are Aquino’s budget secretary, agriculture secretary, the president of the senate and several key pro-Aquino senators and scores of congressmen. Despite having personally received a copy of the list three weeks ago, Aquino’s justice secretary has yet to reveal its contents to the public, claiming it has yet to be verified. Clearly, though, Malacañang is still busy negotiating with Napoles in order to modify the list and make it hew to the Aquino regime’s political agenda.
The Filipino people protest the efforts of the Aquino regime to cover up or conceal the entire extent of the pork barrel scam and protect its political allies. The Filipino people call for the revelation of the unaltered and unsanitized Napoles list.
They demand that all government officials involved in the scam perpetrated by Janet Lim-Napoles be charged and punished accordingly. The Filipino people are extremely incensed that corrupt officials continue to enrich themselves by plundering public funds in the face of massive budget cuts for social spending resulting in the rapid deterioration of education, public health and other government services.
The Filipino people demand an end to the corrupt pork barrel system. This system did not end with the Supreme Court resolution declaring the PDAF as “unconstitutional.” There remains the issue of the presidential pork barrel, the DAP, which Aquino continues to use according to his discretion in order to push his agenda in the Senate, Congress or local government. It is feared that the DAP has been and will be used by Aquino to rush the resolutions pushing for the amendment of the 1987 Philippine constitution to make it consistent with the demands of the US for the further liberalization of the Philippine economy.
The Filipino people demand an end to the bureaucrat capitalist system under the rule of the big landlords and big compradors. Under this system, the Aquino regime has perpetuated the use of state power in order to serve the class and familial interests of the ruling clique. Beside the PDAF and the DAP, the Aquino regime has made use of the Public-Private Partnership Program to further enrich and gain the political support of the biggest oligarchs and their foreign partners.
The demand to put an end to widespread corruption continues to be amplified in the growing clamor to oust the puppet, mendacious, corrupt and brutal Aquino regime.
http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20140511_demand-revelation-of-complete-napoles-list-press-with-the-complete-abolition-of-the-pork-barrel-system
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